DOCTOR WHO: DAWN RED (STORY 1)
by Anna Brelin
Summary: Story 1of 14 of the series - This story is currently being edited. Now edited (and making more sense) up to chapters 5 or 6.
1. Chapter 1

**DOCTOR WHO – THE TIME CHASER CHRONICLES, VOL. 1 – STORY 1#: DAWN RED**

(Featuring The 12th Doctor, Clara and surprise appearances as well as a cast of OC characters)

(Written by SeverusGirl360)

**PROLOGUE**:

It was on a cool autumn evening in 2014.

A UNIT officer sat quietly in his chair at a secret military radar station, closely watching a wall of radar screens and monitors neatly lined up in a row in front of him. He was the only officer there that night apart from a couple soldiers and the caretaker but all seemed calm and well in order. Suddenly, the phone rang.

The officer picked it up and answered it. It was Radar Control on the other end, "This is UNIT Radar Control to Radar Station 9. Do you read, do you read, over."

The officer replied, "This is Radar Station 9. What is the reason for your call? over."

"We are tracking a group of six, no seven, I repeat, seven unidentified spherical objects coming inbound towards your area. Can you confirm? over."

"This is Radar Station 9, we will check Radar Control. over."

The officer checked the radar screens and monitors in front of him for any signs of the objects, but saw nothing but the blips from a couple passing airplanes.

The officer then replied again, "This is Radar Station 9. We _do not_, I repeat, _do not_ confirm the sighting of seven unidentified spherical objects coming inbound, over."

"Are you blind over there, Radar Station 9?! We are seeing seven unidentified spherical objects on our radar screens coming inbound to your area really fast. Look again, over."

The officer shook his head, then looked again. It was then that he noticed something on the radar screen in front of him. It was a group of seven dots, flying close together in a circular formation.

The officer tapped on the touch screen radar screen with a stylus pen to make the image of the formation bigger, than spoke, "Hold on, UNIT Radar Control. I think we got them on screen now…confirmed UNIT Radar Control. We have them on screen now. I shall summon for someone to call UNIT HQ London immediately, over."

"Understood Radar Station 9. Over and out."

The officer then hung up the phone. But as he did so, he noticed that one of the objects broke off from the group of seven and was now descending to the ground at a rapid rate of speed.

He quickly called back UNIT Radar Control, "Radar Station 9 to UNIT Radar Control. One of the objects has just broken off and is now rapidly descending from an altitude of 5,900 feet…3,500 feet…2,200 feet…" the officer then yelled back behind him, "Captain! In here now!"

The officer kept his eyes fixed on the radar screen as a man walked in from the hallway beyond the room, "Did you call for me, sir?"

"Yes, get on the red phone to UNIT HQ in London and see if they know what the hell is going on here!"

"Yes, sir, right away, sir."

The man quickly ran out of the room as the officer kept his eyes fixed on the radar screen before him.

**CHAPTER 1**:

Above the dark recesses of a boggy English swamp in Yorkshire, a brightly lit spherical object began to ascend. It streaked across the sky in a blaze of crimson red light, leaving a trail of deep red smoke in its wake. Then with a great burst of crimson red fire, the object slammed into the boggy, wet soil before it quickly disappeared underneath it.

The next morning, a team of several UNIT soldiers from UNIT HQ London, along with the UNIT Scientific Adviser and his female assistant, tracked down the location where the object had fell and began to do a wide range search of the area where it had crashed. The team walked out across the boggy soil, knee deep in cold, wet mud.

Finally, after a few hours of searching, one of the soldiers digging called out, waving towards the others digging nearby, "Hey! Over here! I found something!"

They then began to dig up the object, which was now several feet down under the soggy soil. After an half hour of further digging, they finally exposed the metallic, glistening surface of the spherical object, which appeared to be in two parts, pinned together at the center. One of the soldiers quickly placed on a pair of gloves and then knelt down to pick up the object, which was now sitting at the bottom of a fairly large hole dug up by the other soldiers.

The scientific adviser and his assistant looked on as the soldier brought the object up to them, wiping off what remained of the mud upon it. The scientific adviser, wearing his own gloves, held the object for a few moments, looking at it with both confusion and curiosity.

The soldier who had brought the object to the UNIT Scientific Adviser than spoke, "What do you recon it is, Professor? Something alien and sinister I suppose."

"I don't know, Commander." said the Scientific Adviser, who spoke with a clear French accent, "All I know is that it shouldn't be here."

The assistant then spoke, "Do you recon it is the Autons again, sir? I've read through some of the old UNIT records. It was said that a collective alien race known as the Autons came to Earth in spheres like this."

The Scientific Adviser kept his eyes fixed on the object in his hands as he continued, "Doubt it. Those spheres look nothing like _this_ sphere. It feels like it is made of some sort of solid metal. But its light as a feather," He then glanced quickly up at the UNIT commander standing in front of him then back down at the sphere again, "But we don't have time to discuss about this object now. Let's quickly pack everything up and get this sphere back to base."

At the team's military jeep, the UNIT commander, who had originally found the sphere, placed the sphere inside of a transparent case then locked the lid over it. The case was then quickly covered over with a tarp and then, along with the Scientific Adviser and all the others with them, carried the object back to UNIT HQ in London.

A couple days later, an older government official was standing in Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's office. Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was the son of Kate Stewart, who was the daughter of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Kate Stewart was Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter from his first marriage to a woman named Fiona. He was now long since married to a woman named Doris.

Kate Stewart would then later marry an older cousin, Edwin Stewart, whom with him she had a son and a daughter. Kate's son and firstborn, Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart became the current acting Brigadier of UNIT HQ London after his mother went to Peru in search of her father.

The government official was a tall and distinguished looking man around in his mid-50s. He even carried a hat and a cane, both of which were sitting next to the door of the Brigadier's office. After a couple moments of silence, the government official turned to face the Brigadier, who was sitting at his desk in a leather armchair opposite of the government official.

"It is not my doing, Brigadier. The order came from higher up the government ladder. I have been given orders to take it to the MOEA Scientific Labs here in London and therefore I must take the object back with me."

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, a young, fair-skinned man of about 33 or 34 years of age, with dark brown hair and blue eyes then spoke, "The sphere crash landed into UNIT HQ property and we claimed it first. Why can't UNIT investigate and analyze this object? We have our own scientific research labs here."

The government official then dropped a file onto the Brigadier's desk, then placed his arms behind his back as he turned around and began pacing slowly in front of the Brigadier's desk. The Brigadier opened the file to look at its contents as the government official continued, "Inside that file are field notes, documents and pictures detailing the object that your Scientific Adviser and men found in the bog a couple days back. Another one of these spheres crash landed in Geneva, Switzerland about 12 hours ago, right at the doorstep of UNIT HQ in Geneva. However, unlike your sphere, which crash landed intact, the one found in Geneva 12 hours ago was cracked upon its discovery. This makes the third time in the past two days or so that one such sphere has crash landed on Earth. But your sphere is the first of its kind to be found on British soil since it all began."

The government official then sat down in the leather armchair opposite of the Brigadier and continued, "The thing is, Brigadier, my superiors believe that they can do a better job in investigating this object in their own privately funded facility and with their own scientists. Though frankly why they believe that I do not know, since they know that you UNIT people have investigated such things before."

"Then why take it from us? Do they think UNIT has gone so far down in the world that they feel that it is unsuitable to do such an investigation? Or do they have possession of some superior knowledge that I am unaware of?"

"Sort of, yes. The spheres, they seem a bit strange or more rather what is strange about them is _what_ is inside them."

The Brigadier glanced up from the file a moment, "Inside them?"

"What's inside them Brigadier, is some sort of strange organic compound unlike anything my superiors or anyone for that matter has ever seen before."

"Well, have your superiors discovered anything about what the compound is or what it could be?"

"_That_, Brigadier," said the government official leaning forward a little in his armchair, "is something that is a mystery even to myself. I am merely here to collect."

Around the early morning hours of 5am the next day, at the MOEA Scientific Labs in London, a group of several government officials and scientists from the fields of agricultural science, life science and space science, gathered together to witness a secret experiment was about to take place. The Brigadier had given the intact sphere to the MOEA Scientific Labs on the condition that UNIT's Scientific Adviser and his assistant would be allowed to help in the experimentation and investigation of the spheres. The three spheres that were recovered over the past two days were already present and accounted for, though they were cracked and dented, thus not in the best of shape.

The scientists and government officials that were present for the experiment, including the Prime Minister of Great Britain, sat in a small observation room overlooking the labs bellow through a large glass window. UNIT's Scientific Adviser stood quietly and patiently as his assistant brought in the transparent glass case that held the intact sphere and sat it on the table. She then took out the sphere from its glass case and sat it down right next to the other three, unaware that in doing so, a series of events had begun to unfold that would literally change the world as they knew it.

After setting everything up for the experiment, UNIT's Scientific Adviser then began to speak to the group with a clear French accent once more as his assistant and several other scientists stood and watched, "Through analysis of the first three spheres that came into our possession, me and my team have discovered something remarkable that will change the way we produce food and produce on this planet. My assistant will explain."

The assistant then stepped forward and began to speak, "At the opening of the first three spheres, we've discovered three new organic compounds, each which seem to be alien versions or representations of three of the four elements which are the basis of all life on this planet. But that is not the only thing we discovered. These organic compounds contain a type of anti-freeze that will allow us to grow mounds of food outside all year round, even during the wintertime. It was also discovered that plant seeds given samples of these compounds grew to produce food in mere minutes instead of weeks or months at a time."

UNIT's Scientific Adviser then spoke again, "And after we have analyzed the contents of this newest sphere, we will be ready to send samples of these new compounds all over the world..."

As they continued to talk and discuss about the spheres, a dim pulse of red light began to ripple across the metallic surfaces of all four of the spheres. For a few moments, the red light that danced across the surfaces of the spheres, getting progressively brighter and brighter in speed and intensity, was being unnoticed.

It wasn't until the Prime Minister of Great Britain glanced over and noticed, "Sir! What are they doing?"

Suddenly, there was huge commotion in the labs and in the observation room above, but before anyone could react quick enough, the surfaces of all four of the spheres fell apart and disintegrated, revealing smaller, brightly metallic intact spheres inside them which were instantly pulled to one another as if by some unseen magnetic force, becoming one signal collective object. They then began to spin in place in a counter-clockwise spin before they began to rise up from off the table and began to hover in mid-air. In all the commotion that was happening in the lab and in the observation room, one of the scientists present in the lab tried to shoot the mass of spheres down, but their gun was quickly pulled away from them by the spheres, which were starting to spin even faster as they hovered.

Nothing seemed to slow down the object as the spheres that made it, which were once four, were now beginning to fuse together into one, glowing brightly as they spun. It just kept on spinning, stirring up a gale of wind within the lab as it spun, with the scientists trapped inside lab and those trapped inside the observation room above tried to escape with their lives.

It kept on spinning, faster and faster, until all of the sudden it came to an instantaneous stop and exploded, releasing a large red cloud which suddenly formed and quickly filled up the entire lab, consuming all within the lab. Screaming and choking sounds filled the air as the red cloud spread out faster then anyone could react. Inside the observation room overlooking the lab, people continued to panic and scatter, trying to escape with their lives. But before any of them could escape, the red cloud cracked the large glass window in mere moments before it shattered it in a fraction of a second, with one the men in the observation room looking on, eyes staring widely and in a petrified state.

The red cloud filled the air like a great cloud of death, killing everything in its path. In a few seconds more, the red cloud had spread throughout the entire complex where the MOEA Scientific Labs were located, then about a minute more, the cloud was about half a mile wide. It continued to spread farther and farther outward from its source.

Utter chaos quickly broke out as everyone was trying to run away to escape the cloud, but the cloud was spreading to fast for anyone to escape. In only an hour, the entire city of London would be consumed by the red cloud, to be encircled and encapsulated within it by its sinister mass. A woman coming out of a restaurant was walking to her car when a stream of people began running past her, screaming and shouting.

She began to look around in confusion when an arm grabbed onto her, causing her to yelp in fright, "What on Earth do you think you are doing?! What's going on?!"

The man was in a horrible state. He appeared to have been one of the scientists from the lab, still wearing his lab coat. He was writhing in pain and stumbling on the ground, his face half covered by an unknown red material. The man placed a hand on the frightened woman's left arm, barely able to move as he spoke, "_It is coming! Go! Run! Run...away!_"

"From what?!"

The man, no longer able to keep breathing as his lungs seized up, then spoke upon his last dying breath, "_Dawn...Red..._"

The man then collapsed and died at the woman's feet. The woman paused in shock at moment as she looked up, only to see the red cloud barreling headlong toward her. She then began to scream and started to run. But even before she turned to run, the red cloud was already upon her, consuming her. The sheer force of the cloud had broken through every single window on every single building, consuming everything and everyone living both outside and inside every building and structure it crashed through, leaving only the buildings and the structures themselves intact.

Elsewhere, in the TARDIS, everything seemed calm and peaceful. The Console Room hummed with life and appeared as if dimly lit, the lights in the room turned down low to the range of bright candlelight. Scattered about the Console Room there were loose clusters of beautiful alien orchid-like flowers planted in strange and intricate alien vases that glowed in the dark a deep cobalt blue hue, which made the room seem brighter then it actually was. Some sat on the walkway overlooking the control console while others sat on the stairs, the book shelves and the floors surrounding the base of the control console.

Clara was quickly taken aback upon entering the Console Room from the side corridor entrance, unsure of what to think or say about the seemingly sudden and slight change in scenery.

"Doctor?" said Clara, looking around the Console Room in a mildly puzzled gaze, "Why is it so dark in here?"

The Doctor suddenly popped up from behind the console, with a smile of repressed excitement upon his face before walking around the console to the other side to greet her, "Clara! You made it back from the bathroom alright then? No, don't be alarmed. I've just got a few extra passengers that were going to help find another home for."

"Doctor, it's a bit dark in here. Can't you make it a bit brighter? I can hardly see my hand in front of my face."

The Doctor smiled at Clara mischievously, "Now, you know that is a lie. I'm standing right in front of you and I can see you just fine."

"Well apparently you have night vision because I certainly don't. Why are all these flowers doing in here?"

"They are a nearly extinct species of nocturnal flower from my home planet of Gallifrey that is often found in mountain caves."

"Gallifrey again?" said Clara, crossing her arms.

"Yes. Well, they use to be. Anyway, two of my specimens in The Garden Room got a bit naughty and made more of them. So now we have a mission to go to the planet Coloria 7 and drop them off there. It seems an adequate place to put them. What do you think? Careful, they're delicate."

"They're beautiful," said Clara, walking up to one of the vases and gently cupped one of the flowers in her hands, glaring at it as if mesmerized somewhat, with its brilliant blue hue shinning upon her face.

"Well, I should say they are. But don't look at them for too long to closely."

"Why not?" asked Clara, who kept her eyes fixed on the glowing blue flower in front of her.

The Doctor began to wander around the console with the TARDIS now in flight, pressing buttons and pulling levers on the console as he spoke, "Well, you may find that your mind will start wandering off and then I would have to slap you back into full..." Clara then suddenly collapsed to the floor, causing the Doctor to pause in confusion a moment, "...consciousness."

A few moments later, the Doctor was kneeling down next to a sleeping Clara, gently slapping her on the face, "Wake up, Clara. Your ship's come in."

Clara quickly stirred awake again, leaping back onto her feet as the Doctor stood back up next to her, "Whoa, what just happened? Did I just fall asleep just now?"

"And that's why you don't gaze at Gallifreyan Sleeping Orchids to closely, Clara. They are the ultimate cure for insomnia." said the Doctor, pointing at a vase as he walked back to the console, "And watch out for the flower in that vase next to you. I found a Datherian Spider lurking about in its leaves and believe me those things would do a lot worse then put you to sleep. You'd be in a coma for a week and then what would your PE boyfriend think?"

"He wouldn't even know about it. Seriously, where's the bug spray in this place?"

The Doctor smiled at Clara. Suddenly, they hear the sound of the TARDIS starting to land as the Doctor goes back to pressing buttons and switches on the console, "Well then, Clara Oswold, if you're feeling better after your little cat nap, before our little trip to Coloria 7, I wanted to stop by this little pastry shop near London's Westend which has the best coffee and blueberry cheese danishes around. Fancy a little snack before we go?"

"Sounds alright to me." said Clara, walking up to the console and placing her hands on it.

"Good, cause we're already _there_." said the Doctor, leaning towards her and smiling as Clara giggled slightly.

The TARDIS materialized on top of a hill, overlooking Central London and its surroundings. But as Clara stepped out to see where they had landed, Clara soon spoke, "Doctor, are you sure that this is Earth and that you know what it looks like?"

The Doctor then stepped out, his back towards Clara as he closed the door and was about to lock it, "Of course _it is_ and of course_ I do_, Clara. The coordinates are wired in the TARDIS's Nav-System, just like the planet Metabelis 3. There is no way that we could be anywhere else."

"In that case, Doctor, why is the sky dark red?"

The Doctor paused a moment, then turned around to see what Clara was looking at. To everyone's sheer shock and amazement, they were overlooking a strange and eerie alien landscape, where almost nothing looked the way it should. Around them, they were standing on a tall hill completely covered by unusually tall deep red stalked grass, which seemed to be at least 15 feet high. The grass was moving strangely in the wind, as if the grass had become one large stationary creature. Through a gap in the grass surrounding them and near the base of the hill they could see a landscape that was overgrown by a vast and complex mesh of ground hugging vines with small red flowers on them. The vines seemed to stretch for miles and miles over the land.

Above them, they could see flowers as tall as trees that were of various shapes and of various shades of red, violet and fuchsia with touches of blues, browns and blacks looming high against the skyline, seemingly 50 feet tall or higher. The trees among the tall flowers, which seemed to be Earth trees, appeared to be a mile high, there trunks and branches covered in a complex tangled maze of thick red vines that reached for the sky. The sky is a deep blood red with clouds of fuchsia hanging in some parts of the sky, bathing Clara and the Doctor in a brilliant blood red hue. Various clusters of little blue lights fly and move about in the air along the sounds and cries of unseen alien creatures.

The Doctor bent down a moment to examine the ground before he looked up again and stood back up.

Clara soon spoke, glaring in awe at what she saw around her, "Doctor, if this is Earth, what happened here?"

"I don't know. I know we can't be on another planet. This is the planet Earth, I know_ it is_ - but then again _it's not_."

"How can it be Earth and not be Earth at the same time?" asked Clara, looking over at the Doctor.

"A bit hard to explain, Clara." said the Doctor, glaring on intensely and in deep thought, "Something strange has happened here and we have to find out what it is and why Earth has now become, well, _not_ Earth anymore."

"So what are we going to do then?"

The Doctor paused a moment, then spoke, "We're going to explore. It seems like the most sensible thing to do. But stay close to me and don't stray too far."

"I wouldn't dream about straying too far."

"Good." said the Doctor as he turned back to the TARDIS door again and opened it again, "But first, we're going to need flashlights. From the angle of where the sun is, which looks completely red through the red atmosphere, I say it was about dusk. We're going to need the flashlights. Wait here a moment."

The Doctor quickly vanished back into the TARDIS a moment as Clara kept looking around her, slightly uneasy about what had happened. The Doctor soon appeared again with a pair of flashlights, stepping out before closing and locking the TARDIS door behind him, "Good, let's go and remember to stay close."

Clara and the Doctor, with flashlights in hand, soon ventured off into the strange wilderness around them. As they walked, they began to observe the immense scale of the situation. It seemed that all of London and much of its surrounding area had been transformed into a vast and complex alien ecosystem unlike any that Clara had ever seen before. All the structures, buildings and skyscrapers in the city were completely overrun with tangles of dimly glowing flowering red vines and deep red ferns, mosses and liken which seem to grow all the way up the sides of the buildings and upon the roofs.

There were beautiful and weird-looking, bromeliad-like flowers clinging to the sides of some of the buildings, some of which had pools of water trapped within them which had a variety of small, strange alien creatures in them, a few of which glowed in the dark in various shades of red, blue and violet. Some of the creatures were strange spider-like insects with glow in the dark spots on them; others were small, brightly colored, four-eyed alien birds with four wings and very long, slender tail feathers which trailed behind them as they flew and glowed in the dark.

The undergrowth of alien plant life underneath the tall towering flowers and ever taller trees seemed to be just as complex and intricate as the canopy of alien plant life above. There was certainly very little around Clara to indicate that this was indeed Earth, even though the Doctor knew that it was Earth and that something was amiss. Allot of plants and creatures around her were bathed in night light and iridescence, while others were dark and hidden among the shadows of the coming twilight.

"Look out Clara!" called out the Doctor as a small pack of what appeared to be wild foxes ran past Clara. The Doctor, who had been walking a few feet in front of Clara, was now standing next to Clara as she turned around to look at what had ran past her. There, upon a cracked and broken fern and moss covered street lined on either side by tall and majestic buildings overrun by plant life, the Doctor and Clara stood, observing the small pack of wild foxes which had suddenly stopped a few feet before them.

"It's alright, Clara." said the Doctor, with a calm smile, "They are just playing with one another, enjoying the world around them."

"_Finally_, something that is of Earth for once."

"Actually, no."

"What do you mean, Doctor? They look like regular foxes to me."

"But they aren't foxes, Clara. Not entirely. Keep watching."

Suddenly, one of the foxes let out a couple strange resonating alien barks and looked towards the Doctor and Clara, showing off a smaller set of glowing red eyes sitting above its larger glowing red eyes, swept back upon either side of its face. It then rose pairs of tall and spiny lion-fish like frills along the base of the back of its neck and long, bushy fox-like tail. A pair of long glowing filaments spouted and appeared from the back of its head as a flash of iridescent glowing blue stripes appeared on both sides of its flanks.

Clara, saying nothing, looked over at the Doctor in puzzlement a moment as he spoke, "They are Krynolian Frill-Foxes. Or at least that is what they are supposed to be. But something tells me that they were regular Earth foxes at one time."

"You mean they've been transformed into _those_? From regular foxes?"

"That's how it appears to be, Clara. Everything on this planet is being transformed and changed on the genetic level. Some sort of genetic alien terra-forming. Everything, the plants, the animals, the birds, it's all changing on the genetic level, becoming something different and new. They are slowly being re-written, slowly being purged of anything remotely of Earth or that of Earth DNA."

"If that's the case, then why aren't we turning into some sort of alien thing?"

"What makes you think we aren't, Clara? For all we know, we are slowly being turned into some sort of alien walking, talking bat-like creature with three heads and twelve eyes. Maybe even being turned into some sort of wingless alien serpent-dragon beast with two mouths and fire breath."

"Seriously, don't joke about things like that." said Clara as was getting more and more nervous, looking around her concernedly as the Doctor continued, "All that I'm saying is that we are likely in the worse kind of danger possible and are potentially becoming something that we're not originally supposed to be. If all the plants and animals around us are changing on the genetic level, that means we are potentially changing genetically to. It could be in the air for all we know, slowly changing us from the inside out."

Clara starts to panic more, "Doctor, I want to go back the TARDIS! Like really, really, now."

"It's likely already too late for us, Clara. We have already been exposed to the outside environment. Everything is changing around us and possibly within us and we can do nothing about it unless we investigate further into what is going on here. We need to find out _right here_ and_ right now _what has happened to the Earth before we become part of the ecosystem ourselves!"

Clara, unable to stand still any longer, quickly turned around and began running towards the TARDIS. The Doctor quickly ran after her.

As Clara continued to run towards the TARDIS, she was running past other strange and wondrous alien creatures, including what appeared to be an alien creature that looked like something crossed between a spider monkey and a rabbit with long seaweed-like filaments growing out of its back and forehead, making a strange shrilling noises as it followed Clara with its eyes.

As Clara turned a corner, seeing not where she was going, she was soon stopped in her tracks by the sight of a human-like figure standing in front of her wearing a white hooded cloak with strange alien markings upon it, startling her and causing her to yelp a little. The Doctor soon caught up with her and stood behind her as Clara ran back to him and grabbed onto his arm, looking at the human-like figure as he spoke, "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Perhaps that was a little too much for you to comprehend in one go."

"Doctor, who on Earth is that?" asked Clara keeping her eyes fixed on the human-like figure in front of her. The hooded figure's face was covered over by the hood on their cloak and apparently not being noticed by the Doctor, who was looking and smiling at Clara as he continued, "See, you're already reverting back to your animal instinct of running away and hiding from perhaps a really bad joke. Then pretty soon, there won't be much of you left still Clara. Maybe your face will still be too wide and you'll still be all eyes."

"Doctor, seriously, look in front of you!"

The Doctor soon looked up in front of him, finally noticing the human-like cloaked figure standing a few feet in front of them. The Doctor lifted an eyebrow, "Oh look, we've finally ran into something familiar after all this time, hello there. You I will assume are human or at least what's left of one."

"Doctor..." hissed Clara, pinching him on the arm, causing him to cringe in pain a moment, then looked back at the figure again as he continued, "I'm sorry, who are you then? Perhaps you can help us with something. We're wanting to know what happened to the Earth before we change, perhaps you could tell us?"

The figure then walked up and stood in front of them before they flipped back their hood, revealing a fair-skinned being human-like in appearance, but with elaborate face markings on the left side of his face and a pair of long, glowing blue antennae sprouting from his forehead and sweeping back over and behind his head. He looked at the Doctor and Clara apprehensively and turned his head slightly to the right as he spoke towards someone or something behind him, keeping his eyes fixed upon the Doctor and Clara, "Captain, we have _another_ one."

A slightly puzzled look came upon the Doctor's face as he replied, with Clara looking on and unable to keep her eyes off the person in front of her, "What do you mean, _another_ one what? There are more then just two of us here; you're not ignoring my friend Clara are you?"

The being gave a mildly sad and mischievous stare as he smiled at the Doctor, saying nothing and making a loud whistle through his teeth as he looked away and turned around, then turned to face them again as a group of several other beings of the same species appeared and took positions around the Doctor and Clara. The Doctor and Clara looked around at them, wondering what they were going to do next.

The Doctor then spoke, smiling and bringing his arms behind his back, "Sorry, did we do something wrong? Because suddenly we're being surrounded by Krynolians. You are Krynolians I take it? Or were you humans that were turned into Krynolians by what happened here? Either way, it is most fascinating to see you all here."

Clara suddenly grabbed onto the Doctor's arm, clinging to him closely as she spoke, "Doctor, we're surrounded. What do they want with us? And who are the Krynolians anyway?"

The Doctor continued, first talking towards Clara, then towards the Krynolians, "They are the sentient natives of the planet Krynolis, Clara. They look human, like Time Lords do, but if you haven't noticed they have a pair of long antennae sprouting from their foreheads that sweeps back over the top their heads which glow blue at night. A built-in night light to guide them through the dark. Quite convenient for a planet that normally has quite the dark nights with its three dimly glowing red moons, which reflect the light from a massive red sun. But the strange thing about the planet Krynolis is that it is as almost as far away from its sun as Earth is to its own and yet it doesn't freeze because of volcanic activity and the hot thermal air currents that wrap around the planet like a blanket, keeping it at relatively the same temperatures as what is found on Earth. I say, no wonder this happened here. This is becoming another Kynolis, Krynolis mark 2."

Clara continued, still looking at the Krynolian in front of her, "Yeah, maybe a story for another time. Why are they here?"

The Doctor once again spoke towards Clara first then spoke at the Krynolians after, "Well, there are two reasons for why they're here, Clara. But I think they know the correct and proper answer to that question, don't they?"

The Krynolian that first encountered them then spoke, "The Captain will answer your questions, sir. Since it is something of her home world that is the cause of all this."

Suddenly, the Doctor caught sight of a female figure with long dark reddish-brown hair and blue eyes and wearing a pair of black leather pants, knee-high boots and a long, loose fitting knitted red cardigan coming into view. At an instant, the Doctor began to glare at her with a level of apprehension and disbelief. The Captain was not like the others in the group around them. She wasn't even a Krynolian. As the female figure approached, it didn't take long for Clara to notice the strange look on the Doctor's face, which was a look of someone who has just seen a ghost but also a look of utter joy and happiness.

It was almost to the point where she could tell that the Doctor was about to start crying when Clara spoke, "Doctor? What is it? What's wrong?"

But the Doctor had his eyes fixed on the female figure, which walked up to him and was looking at him as if she was talking to him telepathically and knew who he was.

The female figure then spoke towards Clara, keeping her eyes fixed on the Doctor and smiling gently, "It's alright, Clara. Neither of you will be changing into any nasty bug-eyed creature anytime soon. If you weren't here when the initial blast came through, you will not be affected by what is going on around you. And these people around me are genuine Krynolians, although there are some humans we've found that have transformed into Krynolians and some of them seem to like the transformation for some odd reason."

"What, they like being something they're not? And how do you know my name?" replied Clara, who seemed relieved to know that she wasn't going to be turned into some strange alien creature.

"The Doctor introduced me to you just now. We're speaking telepathically to one another, keeping secrets close to our chests it seems. And as for the transformed humans we've ran into since all this happened, well, it is the oddest thing. It seems that they don't want to be humans anymore. It's like they wish to be something else, something _new_."

The Doctor kept his eyes fixed on the female figure as Clara continued, "But they were born human, why would they want to be something they were not born to be?"

"A difference in perspectives I suppose. Oh, some have asked if we could change them back into humans, but the larger portion of them only wish to remain what they are. Perhaps because they see a better life somehow. A difference in mindset, a different way of things. Though frankly, I prefer being _what_ I am and _who_ I am."

"And who are you when you're at home?"

"She is the Captain, Clara," said the Doctor suddenly, "Or rather that was the name she chose when she entered the Time Lord Academy."

Clara suddenly became puzzled, "What do you mean, the Time Lord Academy? You mean to tell me she's..."

"Yes," said the Doctor as he turned to look at Clara, "But she's not only that, Clara. She is also my younger sister..." suddenly the Captain gave the Doctor a big bear hug while he continued to speak to Clara and began to react to the Captain hugging him, "...though how and why she is here and alive is beyond all manner of comprehension at the moment...no, no, not the hugging please, I am against the hugging, let go of me, please."

Clara continued to give a wide eyed glare of disbelief, saying nothing as the Captain continued, "But I'm afraid it is unavoidable when I haven't seen you in ages!" - The Captain then suddenly placed her hands around the Doctor's head and gave him a swift head butt to the forehead, causing the Doctor to cringe and cry out a little.

The Captain then spoke towards Clara, "Mental reconstitution. Now my brother will know how, why, when and where."

Suddenly, the Doctor, shaking off the initial effects of the head butt, started to get excited and anxious as he began pointing at the Captain while she turned and began walking off towards the direction she came from with the group of Krynolians following her, looking back and smiling at the Doctor before looking forward again with the Doctor following her with his eyes, "No, you didn't. Noooo...nooooooo, you didn't. You...you did didn't you?"

"Doctor, what has she done? What's happening here?"

The Doctor then suddenly ran up to Clara, gitty as a schoolboy, "She _saved_ some of them, Clara! My sister, she saved some my people from the Great Time War! She got some of them out before I sent them to a parallel universe. There's still some Time Lords out there, Clara! Some members of my own species!" - The Doctor suddenly grabbed onto Clara's hand and began dancing with her, "Don't you see, Clara! They live! My people live!" - He then dipped Clara, who was still unsure of what to think, and then the Doctor brought her up again as he continued, "Save what you can and be rewarded! Such words never rang truer then right now, Clara!"

The Krynolian who first spoke to the Doctor and Clara then called out, "Oye! You two! Come on! The Captain is waiting for you two! Let's go!"

The Doctor quickly took hold of Clara's hand and together they ran after the group of Krynolians and the Doctor's sister. Catching up to the group, The Doctor and Clara suddenly came upon the sight of several UNIT jeeps and a small group of tents among the strange but beautiful vegetation around them. Clara then suddenly noticed a small cluster of bromeliad-like flowers nearby as the Doctor spoke to the Captain, "So what's all this then? It looks like a lot of UNIT standard equipment. Did they give all this stuff to you or did you nick it off of some sort of abandoned UNIT transport somewhere in the wake of this disaster?"

"For shame, brother. What must you think of me and my men? We've wrote up an alliance between ourselves and UNIT. We've offered to help them clear up this mess in return for all the supplies we need to help them in this matter..."

As the Captain and the Doctor continued to talk out of ear range, Clara walked up to one of the bromeliad-like flowers, which had a tiny alien-looking toad sitting inside it. It seemed that the alien plant life that was all around was nestled in every nook and crack in the sidewalk and in the still standing structures around them and was growing on everything around her. To Clara, it reminded her of a city after a post-apocalyptic event that had been overrun and taken over by plant life. Only this plant life wasn't supposed to be here. This was Earth, but now it had been transformed into some sort of alien utopia where only animals, plants and some Krynolians dwelled. As she looked at the strange alien beauty around her, she couldn't help but think that there was something else lurking around nearby, watching and waiting to appear.

"Auralynn!" cried out the Doctor excitably as he ran up to the side of a jeep, now talking at the Krynolian who first spoke to the Doctor and Clara as the other Krynolians were quickly getting into other jeeps around them, preparing to leave as the Doctor continued, "You don't mind if I call the Captain by her _real_ name do you? Because after all, I am her elder brother and I have the right to call her by the name she was born with. What is your name by the way?"

The Krynolian narrowed his eyes and grimaced at the Doctor as he replied to the Doctor in a mildly harsh manner, "It's Saralis, sir. But you will call me Commander! I for one prefer not to be called by my real name while we are on assignment!"

"I say someone has an attitude for being so young," said the Doctor, sounding mildly put out and irritated, slightly raising an eyebrow, "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, sunshine? Did someone forget to salute you or something?"

The Captain, Auralynn, then spoke up, "Doctor, not _now_! In the jeep with you and Clara. We're taking you to the Brigadier."

The Doctor looked towards Auralynn and spoke, "Oh sorry, sister. I didn't know we had a proper soldier among us." - Then arrogantly looked back at Saralis and continued, "But it seems we can't help but to have at least one among us who is a bit too uptight this morning."

Saralis narrowed his eyes at the Doctor as the Doctor called for Clara, who was still looking at the strange bromeliad-like flowers, "Clara, come on. It's time to go meet some humans who I'm sure will be glad to see me. Come on, come on, come on."

Clara looked at the Doctor a moment, then back at the flowers before turning away again and walking towards the jeeps, unaware that something was hiding behind a nearby tree, making strange noises and letting out a long drawn out hiss as it watched Clara leave and everyone in the group. The Doctor and Clara quickly got in one of the other jeeps with Auralynn and a couple Krynolians while Saralis and four other Krynolians in the group got in the designated lead jeep with him.

Auralynn then stood up in the jeep she was sitting in and called out to everyone in the group, "Everyone, turn your spotlights on! It's now twilight here in the Red Dome and you all know what comes out when twilight comes around here. Everyone be on your guard for there are dangers in this place that you can scarcely bare thinking about. You take the lead, Commander!" - And with that, Auralynn sat back down in the front passenger seat while one of the other Krynolians with her took the driver's seat.

As the spotlights attached to the front of each jeep were coming on, Clara, who was sitting in the back seat behind the driver next to the Doctor in the jeep, nudged the Doctor's side gently with her elbow as she spoke to him, "What does she mean by that, Doctor? I don't see anything dangerous around here."

"_Exactly_. Stay close to me, Clara Oswold."

"Why?"

"Cause where we're going, you're going to need an arm to cling onto." replied the Doctor. The jeeps then moved forward, spinning their tires and kicking up dirt and rocks as they left and as they left, the creature that had been watching them came out from behind the tree, hidden within the underbrush and the shadows of the night the jeeps had just left behind, watching them still.

…**.CONTINUED CHAPTER 2…**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**:

Now on a road heading out of Central London, they passed quickly by the various structures, towers and buildings along the sides of their path which had been overtaken by the lush plant life around them. Quite a bit of the plant life was glowing its own natural light, though quite a bit of it was being drown out by the spotlights on the front of the jeeps. Though with every bit of lush vegetation they passed, they noticed that the plants would glow a bit brighter but then slowly dimmed back down to their original intensity of light. The spotlights were giving them a brief boost of energy, which made them shine brighter for a brief time.

Auralynn kept looking forward as she began to speak from the front passenger seat, talking to Clara, "So what do you think of all the lush alien vegetation around us, Clara? Seems a bit out of place for you doesn't it?"

"You could say that. But how did it get here in the first place?"

"It is regretful for me to say, Clara. Have you ever heard of the Time War, Clara?"

"The last great Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords? Of course, the Doctor has told me about it. Not only that, we lived it a little." - The Doctor nudged the side of Clara with his elbow, telling her to stop talking about it.

"Well then you might know something about The Birylian Project. Ever heard of it?"

The Doctor looked at Clara a moment then rolled his eyes before he looked away as Clara continued, "Well, no, the Doctor never told me about that. What is the Birylian Project?"

"Just before the end of the Time War, Gallifreyan scientists secretly devised a plan to create another Gallifrey. Gallifrey Mark 2 or New Gallifrey as it was referred to, just in case the original Gallifrey became too devastated by the Time War to be saved."

The Doctor butted in, "...or in other words, Clara, to the point where the planet would be too far gone to be saved after the Time War."

Auralynn continued, "If the planet Gallifrey was blown up into a million billion pieces, the Birylian Project would take the remnants of the original planet and reconstitute it from the remains and then re-populate it with plant and animal life."

The Doctor butted in again, "Basically a very powerful and dangerous planet re-builder. DNA templates as well as the four basic elements of life itself would be fed into slots on orbs and then would be primed and detonated within the center of the debris field of the original planet. It is from the DNA templates and the four basic elements of life itself that the original planet itself and the plant and animal life that was upon it would be re-born, reanimated from the ashes, including the Time Lords and all the other indigenous races of Gallifrey thereof."

"You mean like the four basic elements such as water, earth, wind and fire? That sort of thing?" asked Clara.

The Doctor continued, first speaking to Clara then to Auralynn, "Not just those elements of life, Clara, but the core elements of life itself. The dominant DNA of the universe: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids, Proteins. Basically the building blocks of life itself. But why are we talking about a super-secret Gallifreyan terra-forming device when it got lost in the Time War? Last I heard, the device was lost, held in the Time Vaults."

"It was stolen by someone or something. We're not quite sure. Just before the peak of the Time War, a small group of rebels, possibly Gallifreyan guerrilla soldiers of some sort raided the Time Vaults and took a lot of valuable and dangerous equipment and weaponry, including the Terraformator Device, which makes up the heart of the Birylian Project. Thankfully for us they didn't get anywhere near the Moment."

The Doctor butted in once more, starting to sound a bit irritated, "Well, that makes me a better thief then they were cause I not only got near the Moment, _I stole it_."

"Any-way, story for another time. What was that device you mentioned just now, The Terraformator Device?" asked Clara to Auralynn.

The Doctor continued, "The crowning jewel of the Birylian Project, Clara. The very device we're talking about, but why?"

Auralynn replied, "It is the cause of _this_, Doctor. The cause of _all_ of this. Whatever they did to the device, it is unfolding here and now."

"But this is not Gallifreyan plant and animal life; this is Krynolian plant and animal life, Auralynn! Why would Gallifreyans steal the Terraformator Device and change the DNA templates to create another planet Krynolis out of Earth?"

"Who says those who stole it were Gallifreyans?" said Auralynn, causing Clara and the Doctor to ponder a moment and look at one another.

"But they would have had to have been, Auralynn!" exclaimed the Doctor, "No aliens could have ever gotten into the Time Vaults alive! All the doors and traps to the Time Vaults are coded and primed to Gallifreyan DNA imprinting. Any aliens entering the Time Vaults would be instantly vaporized by the Time Vault Security System. It's impossible that they would have been anything else but Gallifreyans."

"Never underestimate your enemy, Doctor!" exclaimed Auralynn, "If they are smart enough, and no doubt that they were in order to cause all of _this_, they will have ways of getting past all manner of security protocols and traps."

"This is starting to sound like something that I am not quite sure that I could fix. If the Terraformator Device is involved in all of this, Heaven help us." said the Doctor.

Clara then spoke, "Why, do you think it's something you _can't_ fix, Doctor? That's not like you at all."

"Gallifreyan High Technology like the Moment and the Terraformator Device, especially when it involves the creating of life and the destruction of life, is known for being very powerful, dangerous and quite unpredictable, Clara. In this case even more so since a good portion of Gallifreyan High Technology like the Terraformator Device has sentient or semi-sentient programming as part of its basis, just like the TARDIS does. For all we know it might already be too late!"

Suddenly, the Doctor and the others began to hear loud shrieking above them. Unbeknownst to the group, a group of horse-sized flying alien creatures that looked like something between a flying squirrel and a predatory bird like a Kite or a Hawk were flying high overhead. The wings of the creature were shaped like bird's wings, but instead of feathers, lightly furry skin was stretched over the frame of the creature's bird-like wings, tapering down the flanks to the base of its long, flying squirrel-like tail. The general sleek body structure of the creature was that of a flying squirrel, covered with the short fur of a flying squirrel, dark gray in color.

But its arrow-shaped head and facial structure were closer to that of a predatory bird, though with the ears and eyes of a flying squirrel, but the beak of a predatory bird. It also had a tuft of bright crimson-colored feathers spotted with white, gray and violet on the back of its neck as it did on its chest, between its shoulder blades as well as at the base of its tail which fanned out like a frill. It had no front legs and its back legs looked like a structural cross between flying squirrel and predatory bird, topped with razor sharp bird-like claws. It had a single broken row of glowing crimson colored stripes on either side of its flanks and some glowing crimson colored speckles on the skin of its wings. They were formulating a strike from the air, like a pack of wolves preparing for the kill.

One of the Krynolians in one of the jeeps cried out, "Krynolian Sky Banshees! Everyone look out!"

"Drive faster!" cried Auralynn to the driver of her jeep, who began to push the pedal to the floor.

"Arrgh! Doctor!" cried out Clara as she grabbed onto the Doctor.

"Hold on, Clara!" cried out the Doctor as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it towards the creatures. But as he was doing so, he noticed the Krynolians in the jeep to the right of his. They were uncovering something in the back seat of their jeep which was quickly discovered to be some sort of high tech flame throwing device, a barrage flamethrower. The Doctor yelled over at them, "Watch where you point that thing!"

"They are, brother!" exclaimed Auralynn, covering her head with her hands.

Suddenly, a couple of the Sky Banshees up front began to shriek loudly before they began to dive bomb towards the jeeps, beaks open wide and hissing. Whenever one of the creatures got to close to the jeeps, the Krynolians controlling the flame throwing device would throw out a blast of crimson-colored flame, causing the attacking creatures to jerk back on their wings and gap their beaks, shrieking in disagreement. It didn't take long for Clara to realize that the creatures were not flying, but gliding, like a flying squirrel would. Whenever the Krynolians through a blast of flame at one of them, it caused them to jerk back and land, forcing them to climb up something to start gliding and following them again.

"You see, Clara?!" called out the Doctor, still holding the sonic screwdriver towards the chasing creatures, "They are gliders! They are limited to how far they can fly! We're keeping them at bay!"

"But that doesn't stop them from swooping down to grab their pray with their back legs!" exclaimed Auralynn, who suddenly stood up in the jeep and started pointing her own sonic screwdriver at the creatures. Unlike the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, hers shinned yellow light and was more of a steam punk design.

"When were you going to pull that out?!" exclaimed the Doctor at Auralynn.

"When you said that we were keeping them at bay!"

The Krynolians controlling the flame throwing device were now in an excitable state, seemingly enjoying themselves and the power of the flame throwing device as the creatures continued to follow and attack the jeeps.

"Captain! Look ahead, a line of caves!" said the Krynolian driving Auralynn's jeep.

Auralynn looked towards the direction of where the lines of caves were, flanking either side of the road ahead, which sat within a ravine. But she quickly spoke up again, "Tivel, you idiot! You know perfectly well those aren't normal caves! Keep driving forward as fast as you can!"

"What's wrong? What is it? Can't we just drive into one of those caves until the creatures have gone?" asked Clara, also noticing the caves.

"They aren't normal caves, Clara!" yelled out the Doctor over the commotion.

Suddenly, as the jeeps passed by one of the large, cave-like openings, a long black shape shot out from the opening, roaring loudly. It looked like a massive black cobra-like creature, about 50 feet tall when it reared up and 700 feet long with a single broken band of bright yellow stripes running down either side of its flanks, complete with fanning cobra-like head, but its face was more dragon-like than cobra and was with a large, wide-spreading rack of moose-like antlers sprouted from its forehead, it had a tuft of glowing, spiny yellow frill at the base of the back of his neck, which tapered down the center of the back. It instantly reared up and snatched one of the Sky Banshees right out of the air with its mouth, causing the other Sky Banshees to fall back, shrieking in disagreement once more.

"Stop the jeep! We've been waiting to see this!" yelled out Auralynn as her jeep came to a screeching halt. All the other jeeps soon stopped next to Auralynn's jeep, some distance away from the commotion that had been trailing behind them and then everyone got out looking at the scene that was unfolding.

"Captain, why have we stopped?! We have no time to observe the feeding habits of Krynolian Dragon-Snakes!" yelled Saralis, who quickly got out of his jeep along with the other Krynolians with him and stood next to Auralynn, who was already out of her jeep with her eyes fixed on the battling creatures, "Calm yourself, Saralis. It's alright. Nothing will be attacking us whilst _this_ Dragon-Snake is here."

The Doctor and Clara looked on from the relative safety of the jeep they were sitting in, unsure of what was going on. Within the Dragon-Snake's mouth, it held the Sky Banshee that it had caught, which was flapping around and shrieking loudly, trying to get free. The Dragon-Snake suddenly hissed and bit down on the creature, causing it to go limp and become silent, dead. Then with a satisfied growl, it swallowed the dead Sky Banshee whole in a couple gulps and licked the blood off the sides of its mouth.

The Dragon-Snake then turned its body towards the other Sky Banshees that had been following and puffed itself up, rearing up and fanning out its neck before gaping its mouth and letting out a loud roar, causing the other Sky Banshees to fall back, hissing and shrieking loudly.

"And _that_ is why it is the largest carnivore on Krynolis!" said Auralynn suddenly, "Nothing is bigger on Krynolis then a Krynolian Dragon-Snake! Especially when that Dragon-Snake in question is a friend of yours."

"What?!" said the Doctor and Clara together at once.

Auralynn looked over at the Doctor and Clara, "His name is Anaovlas. I saved his life a couple weeks back from a terrible injury on the left side of his neck. Look, you can see the scare." Auralynn went on, pointing at a long scare running down the left side of the Dragon-Snake's neck, "I gave him that name you know. He's Anaovlas the Enduring."

"Which is a Gallifreyan Latium male name meaning 'Endure'. An interesting name choice for a creature that is not native to Gallifrey. Which also happens to be the name of one of our _other_ siblings." said the Doctor, jumping out of the back of jeep he was in with Clara.

"I'm sorry, what was that again?" asked Clara, getting mentally sideswiped by the mentioning of another one of The Doctor's and Auralynn's brothers.

"It's his name. And personally, I like that name for him. It suits him so well...as it did for _our_ brother Anaovlas." Auralynn looked on at the Doctor, then looking back at the Dragon Snake and smiling.

"Are we alright now? Is it even safe to get out of the jeep?" asked Clara, jumping out of the jeep and standing next to the Doctor, who was looking over and keeping an eye on the Dragon Snake intensely.

"I'm quite glad he stepped in, cause I doubt we could have made it to the border of this cloud had he not done so." said Auralynn, looking back at the Doctor and Clara once more.

"The Border? What, this isn't happening all over the planet Earth?" asked Clara as the Doctor looked on, saying nothing.

"Fortunately no, not yet. And it's been like this for over three months now. But the cloud keeps growing, slowly spreading out across the Earth's surface. In another four months or so this whole planet will be covered by it, then nothing and no one will be able to stop it from changing the life on this planet. Strange it was moving so fast when it initially started, but now it's slowed down. Though the _real_ danger is on the edges of the cloud, not actually inside it."

"Well, from what I've seen I'm not quite sure which part is more dangerous." said Clara.

"The Dragon-Snake is looking at us now." said the Doctor, who was now staring at the Dragon-Snake, which had turned its head and body around to look at the group. Auralynn then looked towards the Dragon-Snake and was suddenly and slowly beginning to walk towards it as the Doctor grabbed her arm gently out of concern. Auralynn then looked at the Doctor and smiled, "It's alright, brother. Come and meet Anaovlas. I'm sure he'd be glad to meet you."

And with that, Auralynn walked on, going towards Anaovlas, who was now coiled up and looking at her and the others. Slowly, but surely, the rest of the group began to walk forwards with Auralynn, unsure of what to make of it all. But as the Doctor came closer to Anaovlas, a strange look of dread, puzzlement and anger suddenly came upon his face, as if he had been suddenly struck with a realization of something unthinkable or unfathomable.

Clara, noticing the look on the Doctor's face and the Doctor stopping, then spoke, "Doctor, What's wrong? You look like you're about to do blow up or something."

"_You lied to me._" said the Doctor angrily but calmly at Auralynn, causing Auralynn to stop walking a moment then looked back at the Doctor, looking sorrowfully at him. The Doctor then walked up to her and continued, "You didn't just _give_ the Dragon-Snake the name of Anaovlas did you? There's _more_ to this then meets the eye isn't there?"

Auralynn suddenly began to cry as she spoke through a cracking, choked up voice, "_Yes_...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I just didn't know how you were going to react if I told you the truth."

The Doctor suddenly turned away angrily and walked back up to Clara, who was clearly seeing a look of anguish and anger in the Doctor's face. The Doctor looked up at Clara sorrowfully and with a sad smile as Clara continued calmly, "What is it, Doctor? What's wrong? Tell me."

"Remember the other day, when I told you about how Gallifreyans can become partially another alien species upon regeneration if the DNA of that species is present within or upon the body like in a wound or a scratch of some kind?"

"Yes, I had found a book on regenerative process of the Gallifreyans and we were discussing about that, why?"

"Well, imagine a Time Lord, visiting an alien planet on some sort of ill-fated mission to try and save that alien planet. Well now imagine that they ran into a native creature of that planet, a dangerous and territorial creature that found them in its territory and attacked you. Now, say that this Time Lord had a fight with this creature and was badly wounded by this creature..."

"Don't say it, Doctor!" cried out Auralynn through her tears, "She doesn't need to know. No one needs to know."

The Doctor looked at Auralynn and spoke angrily, "You lied to me! So everyone is going to know." - The Doctor then looked back at Clara and continued on calmly, "...Now imagine that this Time Lord was so badly wounded by this creature that the creature had left some of its blood and DNA within the wounds of this poor Time Lord. Leaving enough blood in fact that this Time Lord will regenerate into the creature that killed them."

Clara's eyes went wide as she looked towards Auralynn and the Dragon-Snake, saying nothing as the Doctor went on, "Auralynn didn't just give this Dragon-Snake the name of Anaovlas, his name _is_ Anaovlas. The Dragon-Snake _is_ mine and Auralynn's younger brother."

The Dragon-Snake, Anaovlas, then reared up slowly and suddenly began to let out a loud moan, raising his head to the sky, with Saralis and the others looking on, stunned by what they had seen and heard. Unbeknownst to all in the group, there were others creatures lurking nearby, watching and waiting in the shadows, preparing for the moment when they would reveal themselves.

Soon, everyone was back in the jeeps, heading towards the boundary of the cloud. The Doctor, Clara and everyone in their jeep were sitting silently, saying nothing. For a while everyone just sat and said nothing, trying to take in all that they had seen and heard. Then the Doctor, looking on sadly began to speak to Auralynn who was once again sitting in the front passenger seat, looking away into space, "When did Anaovlas go to Krynolis?"

Clara looked over at the Doctor silently as Auralynn spoke, "Not long after we had helped save some of our own people from the Time War. The planet Krynolis you see was in danger of being wiped out of existence by its own sun. Solar maximum has come to Krynolis's sun so there were a lot of very big solar flares about to be released from it. I remember that Earth itself was in danger of being wiped out by its sun not too long ago by a solar flare, but these strange trees grew up overnight and prevented the planet from being scorched into oblivion. Well, Krynolis is now facing a similar danger."

"But why would he even go to Krynolis? Why would he even get involved with things that I'm quite sure the Krynolians would have dealt with?"

The Krynolian in the driver's seat looked over at Auralynn as she continued, "Well, brother. You'd be worried about the planet Krynolis to if you were deeply in love with a Krynolian of that planet."

"Saralis's younger sister, Arana." said the Krynolian in the driver's seat suddenly, his eyes fixed straight ahead, "Anaovlas's love for her is strong."

Auralynn went on, "So strong in fact that Anaovlas personally took it in his hands to try and protect the planet Krynolis and its people from being destroyed." - Auralynn let out a nervous giggle as she continued, "Of course, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and thus became a member of the largest carnivore on the planet, a Dragon-Snake. He was completely transformed into one of those creatures and now I am worried that he will never become a Time Lord again."

Suddenly, they hear a loud roar from Anaovlas, who was further up ahead. Auralynn and the Doctor quickly stood up in the jeep to look at what it was. They had finally reached the boundary of the cloud. They could clearly see the boundary, marked by a glowing crimson red line on the ground, which curved across the ground in front of them. A thin wall of red cloud was the only thing keeping them apart from the normal world outside. Through the thin wall of red cloud they could see normal blue moonlight, shining through it.

The red cloud was expanding in waves now. Every 25 minutes, it would expand a further 200 or 300 feet, affecting everything its edge touched. They could see the figure of Anaovlas posed against the blue moonlight shining through the wall of cloud as he reared up and let out another loud roar. The jeeps soon stopped a good 100 feet away from the edge as Auralynn spoke, "Everyone, listen up. Everyone here except the Doctor and Clara have been given the standard anti-mutagen stamp shot to prevent yourself from mutating when walking or going out through the boundary of the cloud. Can someone here go fetch some anti-mutagen stamp shot packs from the back of the lead jeep please? Will set up temporary camp here for the night then tomorrow, we will leave for the outside world. Everyone move out!"

"What about that camp we left behind back when we got in the jeeps?" asked Clara, remembering that they had left a camp earlier and found it strange that they did not stay there for the night.

Auralynn replied as she got out of the jeep, "_That_ camp is not equipped for overnight stays. _That_ was our research camp - a camp for working, not for sleeping in. And to further complicate things, the creatures of the night usually take over that area so we certainly could not have slept there tonight."

"Well, that explains a few things." continued Clara as she got out of the jeep with the Doctor.

"Explains what, Clara?" asked Auralynn.

"Why Saralis is not getting along with the Doctor. Saralis's sister is in love with the Doctor's brother and neither doesn't like it. And why we have ended up camping here instead of at a camp that was already set up. I understand, yeah."

"That's not even the _half_ of it, Clara." the Doctor went on, not paying attention to Auralynn as one of the Krynolians came up to the jeep with a pack of two anti-mutagen stamp shots and gave them to Auralynn, "There are other greater things at work here that need even greater explanations in order to understand what is really going on here."

"Ow!" cried Clara as Auralynn walked around to Clara, lifted Clara's right hand up and gave Clara one of the anti-mutagen stamp shots in the top of her hand. Auralynn then smiled and spoke, "Sorry, but you two were too busy talking to even notice me."

"What about me then, Auralynn?" asked the Doctor, keeping one eye on Auralynn and one eye on those in the group around him that were helping one another set up tents and plugging in spotlights so the camp was well lit.

"Why do you think I'm coming over to you now?" said Auralynn as she lifted the Doctor's left hand and stamped the top of his hand with the anti-mutagen shot. Auralynn continued, "We have to get one of these stamps every few days when we go back and forth between the edges of the cloud. It is the edge of the cloud that is the real danger, not the inside of it where we are now."

"You mean the stuff that transforms you into something else is in the edge of the cloud and not inside it?" asked Clara.

"Exactly, Clara." continued the Doctor, "And every time the edge of the cloud moves outwards from its source, it transforms more and more of the planet into something else, changing its makeup and DNA into something Krynolian in nature, something alien, something _new_."

"Well, shouldn't we find the source of the cloud then and stop it?" asked Clara as Auralynn replied, "We've been trying to find its source, but so far we haven't pinpointed where it is exactly. Last closest coordinates was near the center of London, but the effects of the cloud are felt most strongly in that area and we don't think we have the necessary resources at the moment to penetrate that part of the city."

"Why not?" asked the Doctor, looking on skeptically.

"Well, we weren't going to tell you until we were out of the cloud, but..." Auralynn paused a moment, unsure of what to say to the Doctor next.

"Tell me."

Auralynn went on, "Well, we've already sent about five missions made up of 10 people already into the interior. The first group to go into the interior were mostly made up of some scientists specialized in the fields of exo-botany, exobiology, astrophysics, chemistry and geology." - Saralis was looking away into space nearby with a look of dread on his face as Auralynn went on, "They were sent from camp we left earlier on a mission to try and find the heart of the cloud and then to ascertain whether or not they could find the source and stop it. We sent 4 rescue missions after them since then, we haven't heard anything from them."

Saralis suddenly spoke as he turned to look as the Doctor and Auralynn, sounding angry, "Arana, my sister, was among the first group to go out. The groups you see were made up of both Krynolians and humans. I told her not to go but being that she was the only chemist nearby, she said she had a duty to go. I didn't want her to though," - Saralis then walked up to the Doctor and Auralynn, who were looking on and listening. Saralis continued, his voice starting to crack with tears in his eyes, "The device that was the cause of this was made by _your_ people. Many have been changed by it and many have died from it. And although some are embracing this change, some are simply wishing for it all too just end. If either of you know of any way possible to stop this and bring back my sister, tell me...tell us _all_." - Saralis struggled to continue as he was on the verge of breaking into a sob, "Make...this...madness stop! Make...things...right again. Please...help us...help us all."

Auralynn looked on and smiled sadly as she spoke, with the Doctor looking on and saying nothing, but sensing the weight of emotions that were starting to come from Saralis, "We will do our best to reverse what has happened here, Saralis. And if at all possible, for your sake and for the sake of my brother Anaovlas, we will bring your sister home. But for now it's time for all of us to sleep. We can do nothing until the morning."

And with that, Auralynn nodded over towards Saralis's tent as Saralis wiped off his eyes with his sleeve and sniffled a little as he started to walk over to his tent.

Auralynn then spoke to the Doctor whilst she and the Doctor followed Saralis with their eyes, watching him walk into his tent, "Why do we Time Lords destroy the lives of others so easily, Doctor? Why do we strive to such heights of power and glory to the point where the rest of the universe is scared of us? Why do we make whole armies turn and run at the mere sight of us, taking out whole planets and systems in our wake? How have we become so indestructible, so dangerous and so powerful as both individuals and as a species that we even fear our own abilities and powers sometimes?"

The Doctor walked up and stood next to Auralynn as he continued, "Why do you think it isn't any wonder why some of us Time Lords have a hard time sleeping?" - Auralynn looked at the Doctor and smiled sadly as he continued, "Hard to admit that when you are from a race of monsters now isn't it? We make sure that nothing and no one gets in our way, not even death or extinction..."

"...or even The Daleks. But I can't even fathom seeing what the Daleks are capable of again, not after what they did to us in the Time War." Auralynn added, looking back at Saralis's tent.

"Now _who_ are the real monsters?" said the Doctor, smiling as Auralynn looked back and smiled, laughing softly. Suddenly, they noticed the sound of Anaovlas's familiar roar hanging in the night air. Nearby, silhouetted against the cloud and moonlight, Anaovlas was reared up, fanning our his neck and tuft of frill at the base of the back of his neck, hissing then letting out another loud roar, then lied back down again, folding down his frill and neck as he began slithering across the ground again.

Auralynn then looked at the Doctor and spoke, "Come on, let's go talk to our brother Anaovlas, maybe he knows what's going on."

"What makes you say that then?" said Clara suddenly, who was standing in the entrance to one of the tents nearby, watching and listening in.

The Doctor looked over at Clara and smirked, "Now how long have you been standing there listening in?"

"Long enough. Though frankly I never actually knew why you had a hard time sleeping...until now."

"Well, now you know."

Anaovlas then roared again, only this time it sounded more like a moan, causing the trio to look towards his direction. Auralynn then spoke, "Come on you two. Let's go talk to Anaovlas about all this."

"He sounds sad. Is he really yours and Auralynn's brother? I mean _really_ _really _yours and Auralynn's brother?" asked Clara, walking up and standing next to the Doctor.

The Doctor spoke as he looked over at Clara, watching Auralynn walk forward towards the direction of where Anaovlas was, "Yes, Clara. He's _really_ _really_ mine and Auralynn's brother. But if there is one person or creature in this world that actually knows what is going on around here, it would be him. Come on, let's catch up with Auralynn."

And with that, they started to walk together after Auralynn, going towards the direction of where Anaovlas was waiting to see them.

**...CONTINUED CHAPTER 3...**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**:

Elsewhere, out of sight but in view of the temporary campsite, a creature lurks nearby, hissing quietly to itself and with its green tentacle arm holding onto the side of a tree. Any time now, the creature would appear before the group to make its presence known. But it had to wait for the right moment when it could reveal itself.

Outside the cloud and some distance away from it, a small group of UNIT soldiers and officers were camped on a high hill overlooking the sight of the massive red cloud, which from their perspective appeared as a very large tampering dome of solid red smoke, many miles wide. Many from UNIT HQ London and civilians did manage to escape London before it was overtaken by the cloud. Though some of those who had escaped after the fallout came out of the cloud transformed into Krynolians. Some of these people were happy with the transformation while others were not. But so far there was nothing that could be done to change back those who had been affected so they were made to live with the transformation. Two other distinct features of the Krynolians were not only that they had a second pair of arms and hands, but also had a long tuft of spiny frill going down the center of their backs, which looked like the ragged pectoral fin of a lion-fish, only it was able to be stood up and then folded back down like a peacock's tail is.

One of these humans transformed into a Krynolian was one of UNIT's top soldiers, Commander Daniel Bearsley, who was at the MOEA Scientific labs when the cloud had initially came into existence and started to expand. He was sitting in the entrance to his tent, which was opposite of Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's tent, taking off his shirt and thus revealing the long tuft of spiny frill running down his back.

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who had joined the group not long after the cloud had taken out UNIT HQ in London, was sitting at a desk inside his tent overlooking some papers, noticing Daniel had taken off his shirt and was now showing off his hairless chest and rippling muscles. Daniel was a well-built man, with a sleek and sculpted figure, eye-candy to anyone who had a taste of the exotic fancies of the male gender. Daniel soon noticed Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart looking at him as Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart spoke, "I say, you're looking rather fit and lovely to the eyes tonight, Daniel. Have you been exercising?"

Daniel smiled, noticing Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's lurid glances but also not failing to notice something was wrong with his superior, "There is a time and a place for your fancies of me and I don't think it is _that_ time _or_ place. But yes, I have been exercising, sir."

Daniel could notice that Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was trembling a little in his chair. He had been noticing these little odd moments ever since they had escaped the cloud months before. But now Daniel was noticing them more and more. Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart smiled and snickered under his breath as another UNIT soldier came running into Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's tent. It was one of the scouts who had been sent out earlier to keep an eye out on the border of the cloud. The scout was breathing heavily as though he had been running all the way back to the camp, "Sir, we have news on the group we sent in earlier. They have reached the border of the cloud! We will expect them to join us here tomorrow."

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart looked up at the scout and smiled, "Very good, Private! You and the others will keep me informed will you? I am, expecting some surprises with this group when they join us tomorrow."

"Sir?" asked the scout, with a look of puzzlement on his face. Unbeknownst to the scout or to Daniel, Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was struggling with a secret, which was close to being revealed as he went on, "Back to your post, Private."

"Yes, sir. I will." said the scout and with that, he left the way he came.

Once the scout was out of sight, a look of fear and desperation suddenly fell upon Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's face as he began trembling strongly in his chair. It didn't take long for Daniel to notice, who began looking at Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart with a look of concern. Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart had been holding back for so long but now could not resist what was happening to him any longer. Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart suddenly began to cry out loudly, trembling much more strongly. Daniel then stood up and walked up to the entrance to Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's tent and spoke, "You lied to us, didn't you? You said when we first got here that you weren't overtaken by the cloud."

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart struggled to speak as a strained look sat upon his face, "I'm...sorry...I couldn't...I wouldn't..." - he then cried out loudly again as Daniel continued, "Well, you lasted longer then I did, sir. But why _now_ when only you and I are in the camp at the moment?"

"I just...I mean...I was...I just wanted you here...just you. I just wanted someone who had already changed to..."

"I understand, sir, I know. I changed myself." said Daniel, looking on as the Brigadier cried out again. Daniel continued, "But it saddens me to know that you have been in pain for this long. You should have let it happen instead of holding it back. Now you can't hold it back anymore."

"I want...I can't...I wish...arrghhh!" cried out Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart as the pain became stronger.

"It's too late for us, sir. For _both_ of us. We will never become humans again." said Daniel, looking on sadly as the Brigadier's face cringed with pain and cried out once more. Within the shadow upon the wall of the Brigadier's tent, the sight of the Brigadier changing could be seen as two extra arms began to sprout out of the Brigadier's body as the Brigadier cried out in pain.

Back inside the cloud, The Doctor and Clara quickly caught up with Auralynn, who was already sitting down and communicating with Anaovlas, petting the top of his head. Anaovlas was coiled up in a ball with his giant head close to Auralynn's head and making a drawn out growling purr as she petted him. Auralynn was singing a beautiful and gentle song in Gallifreyan that the Doctor recognized as he and Clara got closer into ear range.

"I remember that story..." said the Doctor, appearing from the dark and looking up and over at Anaovlas and then back at Auralynn, "..._our_ mother use to sing it to us. It's an old Gallifreyan legend that talks about how one of the first Gallifreyans that ever lived was swept down a mighty river in a flood and later found himself beached on the shores of Shra Lunethra, the Gallifreyan version of the Spirit World. He then stayed there for 9 months, trying to figure out a way to get back home to the world of the Living, traveling through the 9 corners or Shradas of Shra Lunethra and learning new powers and abilities as he went along. Then when he finally did manage to return to the world of the Living, he had been transformed into more then just a Gallifreyan, into more then just a Time Lord, he had become a Creationeer, an elevated Time Lord that had the ability to create life out of thin air, a god with dominion over the very essence of Life itself."

"Of course we've always seen it as more like a story of endurance and the will to reach for your highest dreams and aspirations no matter how impossible they might seem to be." said Auralynn, smiling, "I know. We always liked it when mum told us that story. It has always been one of our favorite song-stories."

"Song-stories?" asked Clara, looking and standing next to the Doctor.

"Old Gallifreyan legends and fairy tales told through song. Gallifreyans have always taken full advantage of their excellent singing and story-telling abilities. We have a lot of song-stories that we tell to our children. Many of our oldest legends are told and re-told through song-stories. Though that doesn't mean that we never wrote them down."

Suddenly, Auralynn cried out, "Anaovlas! What are you doing?! Stop! It's alright!" - as Anaovlas had let out a loud roar, puffing out his neck and hissing loudly as he suddenly charged towards the Doctor, who quickly cried out to him as he and Clara brought up their hands defensively, trying to keep calm and not be frightened. The Doctor continued, "Anaovlas! No! What are you doing?! It's me! It's alright!"

Anaovlas quickly stopped in mid-charge and let out a hiss as he flattened his neck and brought his big arrow shaped, dragon-like face up closer to the Doctor's face, flicking his tongue as if smelling him. Clara stepped away a little bit as Anaovlas, who was quietly growling in a low rumbling growl, then brought his face in further and placed the tip of his nose up to The Doctor's forehead, which caused the Doctor to suddenly close his eyes and open his mouth a little. For a moment, it was unclear as to what was going on, then Auralynn stood up and slowly walked up to the Doctor.

A moment later, Anaovlas took his nose away from the Doctor's forehead and moved backwards a little bit, quietly purring once more. Anaovlas then reared up and let out another roar as the Doctor opened his eyes again and looked up at Anaovlas. Anaovlas then turned his body around and went to go lie back where he was earlier, coiling up into a ball and laying his head on the ground once more.

For a moment, the Doctor looked around and blinked his eyes before he noticed Auralynn standing nearly in front of him. Auralynn continued, "Now that both you and I are re-connected to Anaovlas telepathically, you will be able to sense when he is nearby and hear him speak to you telepathically."

Suddenly, a male voice began to speak in the Doctor's head. It was Anaovlas, who was now looking at him and Auralynn, "_She_ is the cause of all this, my brother. The woman in the coat of blood. Her coat is a blaze of glowing iridescence as burning as fire, as empty as darkness. _She_ was the one who changed the device that caused all this to happen." - The Doctor and Auralynn began to walk up to Anaovlas, listening on as Anaovlas continued, following them with his eyes, "_She_ was the one who had stole the device away from those who took it from the Time Vaults and sent it falling to the Earth. Beware the woman in the coat of blood, who wears it proudly like a badge of honor."

"What is he saying, Doctor?" asked Clara, "I can't hear him speaking."

The Doctor kept his eyes fixed on Anaovlas as he spoke to Clara, "And you very likely won't, Clara cause you're not a Time Lord..." - then readdressed Anaovlas, "Who is _she_, Anaovlas? And who stole the device in the first place? Do you know where _she_ is now and where those who stole it now are? Tell me." asked the Doctor, who was now peering at Anaovlas, listening on intensely.

"I...do not know _her_ name or where they are. I...just see _her_ image, _her_ face. Every time I close my eyes, she invades my dreams; I hear _her_ laugh and see _her_ eyes staring at me from the darkness. The woman in the coat of blood aids the beasts of the night that stalk the swamps of Krynolis, their tentacles strangulate, their tentacles grasp their prey and do not let go. But they are changing."

"Changing?" asked the Doctor, looking on intensely and slightly turning his left ear towards Anaovlas.

"They are slowly becoming a higher life form, a higher version of themselves. They needed this to happen to the Earth in order to gather enough energy to make the change complete. They are struggling to change, to become something _new_. They are using the energy to accelerate the change, but it is not enough. They need more..."

"How are they getting this power?"

"They are draining it from _us_."

"_Us_?"

"Those who have changed, those who have become something _new_, they are draining it from _us_. Some of our life essence is being drained from us to produce the power they need to make the change complete. But it is not enough. They need more, more..."

"Who are _they_? These people who are struggling to change?"

"They are beasts of the night. Creatures that hunt, creatures that kill, creatures that can change you into one of them. They are ancient, they are weary but now they are changing, growing, evolving. The woman in the coat of blood is helping them change. Those who the device was stolen from were taken with her, kidnapped by her, sent to a place unknown."

The Doctor continued as he looked away and began to pace up and down in front of Anaovlas for a moment before stopping in front of him again and looking at him, "But why is _she_ helping _them_ change? What is the point of all of it?"

Anaovlas continued, "She is not in her own body."

"What?"

"She is in a different body, a false body. She is in this false body until her true body is fully repaired, my brother. Now she is helping the beasts of the night change in order to repair her true body faster and produce more of them. And soon she will use the Terraformator to change this world and everything that inhabits it."

Elsewhere, at the heart of the cloud, a huge mass of tangled red vines shift and move about around and upon an unseen structure covered over by them, the mass of red vines spread out across the ground in all directions. Various debris and objects are scattered around it as pulses of red light rippled and flashed across the ground in a rhythmic pattern moving outwards away from the vine covered structure.

Back where the temporary camp was, The Doctor and Anaovlas were now in a private discussion some distance away from where Auralynn and Clara were sitting next to one another and looking on. Clara then began to speak, "So, Auralynn. You're the Doctor's sister then?"

"I am," replied Auralynn as she kept her eyes fixed on the Doctor and Anaovlas in the distance, "I am younger then him however I'm not his youngest sister. That honor belongs to mine and the Doctor's twin half-sisters Sesamillia and Trisnia."

"Blimey, those are funny names."

"They are old Gallifreyan names. Sesamillia means 'sweet flower' while Trisnia means 'trust'. I am but 1 of 9 sisters and 1 of 17 siblings all together."

"17? Blimey, that's a lot of mouths to feed. Are you all from the same mother?"

"Oh dear heavens, no. Only the Doctor, myself, Anaovlas, Shelourna and our eldest brother Braxital are from the same mother. We have 17 siblings in all shared between three mothers. Most of which are of pure Gallifreyan aristocratic stock I might add."

"Well, I didn't doubt that for a second. So where in the line do you fit in?"

"I am my father's and mother's third born. The Doctor is their second born, Braxital is their first born. Anaovlas their fourth and then lastly Shelourna are the youngest of the five, from my mother not the other two. We loved our mother dearly. But the one thing about it that you might find weird is that my father was with all three mothers at the same time."

"How? Do Gallifreyans practice polygamy or like something with harems and all that?"

Auralynn snorted and giggled at the same time, "Well you may call it polygamy in Earth terms my dear, but in Gallifreyan terms..." - Auralynn paused a moment, unsure of what to say next then continued, "Well, I suppose there is some similarities to harems but without a bunch of wives involved..."

The Doctor suddenly butted in as he walked up to the pair, "A Time Lord can only have five wives at the same time, just like a Time Lady can only have five husbands at the same time. Gallifreyan marriage laws dictate. We strive to have open relationships with benefits, although we tend to stick close to our mates instead of fool around much. And I just had the two not including Elizabeth the 1st and River Song."

Auralynn looked up at the Doctor and continued, "It's funny how you are mentioning Stellanaura and Crystiana at this point."

"That's because you're over here telling Clara too much about yours and my family at the worst possible time imaginable. We have an invasion on our hands. Try to save it some of it for another day."

"An invasion? Of what, Doctor?" asked Clara, looking up at the Doctor.

The Doctor continued, talking to Clara and briefly pointing at Auralynn before bringing his hand down again, "My sister here probably should have thought it was obvious given the name of the planet that Earth is being transformed into. Are you hungry, Auralynn?"

Clara shook her head in confusion as Auralynn continued, "What do you mean it should have been obvious? And no, I'm not particularly hungry. Why is that important?"

Suddenly, the trio began to hear some loud hissing behind them coming from a figure just out of sight. The Doctor slowly turned around to look at the source of the hissing as Clara and Auralynn got a glimpse of what was making the sound, the figure seen stepping out into partial light coming from the spotlights of the camp. The eyes of both women widened, remaining silence as the Doctor continued, "Because we have some old enemies of mine who have decided to join us for dinner and _we're_ the dinner!"

Standing before them were at least three dozen or more, growling, hissing reddish-green masses of plant matter and writhing tentacles, creatures about the size of an average human, with long green tentacles protruding from every part of the creature's bodies. They appeared to have no eyes or nose, but some holes for ears but they clearly had glowing crimson red spots as well as what appeared to be heat sensing gills along what appeared to be their flanks and on the sides of what appeared to be their heads, with long, dangling, tentacled mouth parts protruding from the front of it. The creatures sporadically flashed their gills as if they were seeing with them, seeing the heat signatures of those before them.

Auralynn and Clara suddenly stood up quickly as Auralynn called out, "Krynoids! We have Krynoids! Everyone run!"

The creatures then suddenly shrieked and quickly charged forward, their tentacles posed to grab and strike. The Doctor suddenly cried out as he ran after Auralynn and Clara, "They are attacking the camp! Everyone run! Run!"

The commotion quickly woke up the others in the camp, including Saralis. It didn't take long for Saralis to realize they were under attack when one of the Krynoids attacking saw one of the other Krynolians step out of their tent and charged after him.

"Taelaphis! Look out!" cried Saralis. But it was too little too late. Taelaphis screamed as the Krynoid, hissing loudly and already on top of him, wrapped its long tentacles around him, disappearing into the tent Taelaphis had ran out of moment before. One by one, the spotlights in the camp blew out, making the camp darker and the Krynoids attacking harder to see. Clara, Auralynn and the Doctor ran into one of the tents as Saralis and the other Krynolians grabbed for weapons and battled with the Krynoids outside.

They could hear the discharging of weapons and the exploding of bombs along with the screams and cries of dying Krynolians along with the roars, growls and hisses coming from the attacking Krynoids as the Doctor spoke, "Krynoids. That's all we need, Krynoids."

"Where did those Krynoids come from?!" exclaimed Auralynn, "We didn't see any Krynoids here when me and my men first came here months ago!"

The Doctor continued, his back towards the entrance to the tent with his hands upon the tent flaps trying to keep them closed, "Well, that is obvious isn't it? They've been hiding, hiding in the dark all this time until they decided the right moment to attack us. So now we are their dinner."

Clara then spoke, slightly panicked, "What are they, Doctor and why haven't we not seen any until now?!"

"They are Krynoids, Clara! They are a race of carnivorous creatures native to Krynolis! Half-plant, half-animal! I should have realized that they were a part of this when Anaovlas kept calling them _beasts_!"

Auralynn suddenly realized something, "Oh good lord, where is Anaovlas?!"

"I don't know," the Doctor went on, trying to keep the tent flaps closed, "He wandered off after our little chat. He said he'd be back in the morning."

"But we need him now!" cried Auralynn.

It was at this moment that Anaovlas, who was rather far away from the camp now, was slithering away when he turned his head to look towards the direction from where the camp was. He could see the light of the flames rising up from the camp, prompting him to turn his body around and look.

Back at the camp, The Doctor began to formulate an escape plan, keeping his back to the tent entrance and holding the tent flaps together behind him, "We need to get to the jeeps and get out of the cloud. It's the only way we're going to escape them."

"But the cloud isn't going to stop them from following us!" exclaimed Auralynn, "Krynoids have no limits! Once they get the scent of their prey they will not stop until they have captured it!"

"Well, we've got to think of something!" yelled Clara as the tent began to fill with smoke, "We can't stay in this tent forever! If we do, either they kill us or the smoke does!"

"Clara is right, Auralynn! We don't know if the cloud will stop them from following us but we've got to try!"

Auralynn quickly cracked open the tent flaps to the back entrance to look out a moment then quickly closed them again and looked at the Doctor. The expression on her face told the Doctor and Clara that she was going to make a run for one of the closest jeeps just beyond the tents, "We can't all escape at once. Only one of us can get to the nearest jeep just beyond the edge of the camp! I will go!"

The Doctor then continued, "No, it's too dangerous, Auralynn! The Krynoids will get you long before you will be able to reach any of the jeeps!"

"Doctor, I can do it! I am fast enough; I can reach the nearest jeep from here and go for help!"

"_No_!" growled the Doctor disagreeably, angrily stepping forward a couple steps then stopping, "I won't let you go out there, Auralynn, not on your own! I remember the day I lost you! I remember the hurt it caused! Do you think I am just going to let you go out there and get yourself killed?!"

Clara continued, running up next to the Doctor and grabbing onto his arm, looking on as Auralynn quickly peeked out the back entrance to the tent again, "Doctor, let her go. If she says she can do it, just let her. She'll be alright; she's going to get us help."

"_No_!" growled the Doctor once more, looking at Clara angrily, "She is my sister, Clara! The only one of my sisters that I know is still alive! If she goes out there on her own, the Krynoids will just capture her and feast upon her!"

"Doctor, if she survived escaping the Time War then she can certainly survive _this_."

The Doctor continued as the battle outside the tent continued to escalate, "Clara, you don't know what a Krynoid is capable of! They are vicious and nearly unstoppable predators from another planet brought here no doubt by whoever sent the Terraformator here! I am _not_ about to let Auralynn out of my sight!"

"I am going! My group needs me to go and get help!"

"_No_!" said the Doctor towards Auralynn again, "I refuse to see you sacrifice yourself needlessly! I need you here!"

As the Doctor and Auralynn continued arguing, Clara suddenly noticed the sound of loud hissing behind her. Her eyes widened, she quickly turned around to look at what was behind her and cried out - "Doctor! Krynoid!"

The Doctor quickly turned around and came upon the sight of one of the Krynoids from outside, which was coming into the tent and was walking towards them, its tentacles writhing out in front of it. The Doctor then spoke, moving around Clara to stand in front of her, holding his arms up in front of him, "No, wait! wait! Listen to me! We are not your enemies!"

The Krynoid standing before the Doctor kept slowly stepping forward, hissing and breathing loudly as the Doctor and Clara kept stepping backwards slowly, trying to keep some distance between themselves and the Krynoids staring down at them.

The Doctor continued, his eyes fixed on the Krynoid while Auralynn sneaked out the back entrance to the tent, "Listen to me! Listen! I don't know how any of you got here! I don't know why you are attacking us! But please, just stop a moment and listen! I don't know if you are scared or angry or you are just plan hungry but we didn't come here to hurt you or kill you or anything like that. We just want to get back to our friends and family that are waiting for us outside of this cloud! But before we do, I just want to know something! If you have any ability to speak at all, if you can just tell me! Why are you Krynoids here?! Tell me why you're here! Tell me now!"

Suddenly, to the Doctor's and Clara's great surprise, the Krynoid suddenly stopped and pulled back its tentacles to hang them to its sides. After a brief moment of silence, began to speak in a steady growling, hissing voice as the Doctor brought his hands down, "_We - are - charging..._"

The Doctor turned an ear towards the Krynoid as the Doctor continued. "_Changing_? Into what?"

"_We - are becoming - something new. Something - stronger. We - did not come here - on our own. We - were brought here - could not live where we were - could not live there - anymore..._"

"What happened?" asked the Doctor, keeping an ear turned towards the Krynoid.

"_The light that kills - the light that came - was ending our world. Our world - becoming dead - becoming black. We - had to leave. We are changing...We need food - must have food..."_

"Do you know who brought you here?"

_"She is - queen - she is - mother - mother - my mother - she bore me - she is mother - she is - with father - hungry - so hungry..."_

Suddenly, the Krynoid began to walk forward again, hissing loudly. The Doctor brought his hands up again, "No! Please stop a moment! I want to know! _Who_ brought you here? _What_ brought you to this planet? Or we're you a human once? We're all of you human once? Is that what you mean by changing into something new? Tell me."

At this point, the Doctor and Clara had been backed up out of the back entrance to the tent and were now being backed up towards a wall of rock behind them. The Krynoid spoke again as he kept slowly walking forward, bringing its tentacles up in front of it again, "_We - did not become Krynoid! We - are Krynoid! We - are hungry! We - need energy! Need energy - to change!_"

The Doctor continued, keeping one eye on the Krynoid and one eye on Clara behind him, "To _change_ into what? What are you changing into? Tell me, who brought you here? Why are you here now? Tell me!"

With the Doctor and Clara now pinned up against the wall of rock behind them, the Krynoid spoke one final line of words as it stood up higher, looking down at the Doctor and Clara as it rose up its tentacles above its head, letting out a loud, drawn out hiss as it was about to strike, "_The woman - mother - in the coat of blood..._"

Suddenly, the Krynoid's body exploded in front of the Doctor and Clara, splattering material all over them and the area around them. After a few moments of trying to compose themselves and pulling off the bits and pieces of the Krynoid that had splattered onto them, the Doctor and Clara looked up at what was in front of them. To the Doctor's astonishment, Auralynn had gotten to one of the jeeps that had been equip with a large alien laser gun attached to the front of it that was shaped like a Gatling gun and appeared to shoot blue laser bolts that shred matter in a single instant when fired.

Auralynn, peering angrily from around the back of the smoking weapon then spoke, "_Get - in - the jeep!_"

"Yes, Madame." said the Doctor with a mildly submissive tone to his voice, staring on wide eyed as he and Clara walked towards the jeep.

As Anaovlas was roaring back to the camp, Auralynn, driving the jeep, began to race through the chaos of the battle, calling out, "Everyone, retreat! Everyone get to the jeeps immediately! We need to get out of here!"

Auralynn then suddenly skid the jeep to a stop and stood up inside it, yelling for Saralis, who was nearby, "Saralis! Get your men out of here! I need to find Anaovlas!" - Saralis and the others with him soon broke formation and ran towards the other jeeps nearby. Auralynn then spoke towards the Doctor, who was sitting in the back seat with Clara, "Doctor, which way did Anaovlas go?"

"I saw him go northwest of here, he can't be too far."

"Then I will go get him! You and Clara go with Saralis in his jeep and get out of here! I will join you all later."

And with that, The Doctor quickly grabbed Clara's hand and together, they jumped out of Auralynn's jeep and ran towards the other waiting jeeps, while Auralynn sat back down in the driver's seat of her jeep and quickly drove away, throwing up dirt and rocks as she left.

Nearby, overlooking the scene of utter chaos from atop the flat roof of a low structure, a small group of Krynoids are looking on, surrounding a humanoid figure in a red hooded cloak, its face unseen under its hood and with two long blades attached to her arms. The figure peered over the edge of the top of the structure, looking down at the road two stories bellow as Auralynn sped down it, trying to keep control of the speeding jeep. Auralynn was talking to herself, "Anaovlas, whatever reason you had to wander off like this, _now_ was not a good time to do it!"

Though Auralynn was unaware that Anaovlas had turned around and was on his way back, slithering back as fast as he could. Then, as Auralynn turned a corner, the figure in the long red cloak suddenly appeared in front of Auralynn out of a flash of blue light and landed on the hood of the jeep out of nowhere, with her long arm blades buried into the hood of the jeep. This caused Auralynn to let out a startled cry, skidding her jeep to a stop.

The figure in the long red cloak, which suddenly pulled back her hood, revealing four arms and the face of a fair-skinned Krynolian female, then pulled her long arm blades out of the hood of the truck and leaped off the hood of the jeep. The Krynolian female then did some sort of alien kung fu-like moves before positioning both her long arm blades cross-wise out in front of her in a strange defensive pose. But only two of her arms had long arm blades attached to them while the other two were free to do some strange air punching moves. Auralynn then jumped out of the jeep and started to yell at the cloaked figure, "Where in the name of Rassilon did _you_ just spring up from?! What the hell were you doing back there just now?!"

Suddenly, the voice of an unseen female presence spoke behind Auralynn just as she heard the voice and slowly turned around to see its source, "Oh, she was simply stopping _you_ for _me_, my dear. I hope you don't mind. But we can't just have you going after back-up now, can we?"

Suddenly, Auralynn's eyes went wide as a strange aura of blue light flashed around her, instantly causing her to vanish in a cloud of blue smoke. The unseen female presence, which appeared to also be wearing something red and had fair skin, then brought a hand down next to her and held up an object which looked like a blue lace parasol sword cane with a black stem and a sliver handle at the end. The lace pattern of the parasol part of the sword cane was revealed when the unseen female figure opened it, revealing an elaborately woven circular Gallifreyan pattern. Then the mysterious woman laughed mischievously before she began to walk off, vanishing once more into the night with the mysterious Krynolian female in the long red cloak.

**...CONTINUED CHAPTER 4...**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**:

Back at the camp, the Doctor, Clara, Saralis and the rest of the surviving Krynolians are struggling to flee in their jeeps from the rampaging mob of Krynoids, going full speed down the road which lead to the outside world. Above them, the Krynolian Sky Banshees were once again in formation above the fleeing jeeps, only this time they were keeping their distance until the right moment to strike once more. Down on the ground, the jeeps are going full speed towards the wall of the cloud.

"I don't understand, Doctor!" exclaimed Saralis as he was driving the jeep that held himself, the Doctor and Clara in it, "We've done extensive field studies on the Krynoids on the planet Krynolis. If they were about evolve into some higher life form we would know about it!"

"Perhaps you should worry more about keeping your eyes on the road than about the Krynoids at the moment!" the Doctor went on, "The Krynoids are long behind us! We need to get out of this cloud like Auralynn said and get away from those Krynolian Sky Banshees following us!"

Clara then suddenly turned her head to the left of the jeep when she noticed the green flash of what appeared to be a figure running rather fast on all fours parallel to the jeeps and the road. Clara tugged on the Doctor's sleeve, "Doctor, I don't think we've outrun the Krynoids just yet."

The Doctor looked over to where Clara was looking and was stunned to see Krynoids keeping up with the jeeps. Only these Krynoids were different from the ones they had encountered back at the camp.

These Krynoids, around five in all surrounding the jeep, appeared as a cat-form version of a normal, regular Krynoids and were with the same green, red tinged skin as regular Krynoids. But these Krynoids was running on all fours upon cat-like front and back legs. Their bodies were sleek, agile and cat-like. And like normal Krynoids, they seemingly were without eyes, but they were with nostrils, cat-like ears and a mouths like a cat, their maws filled with razor-sharp teeth.

They had what appeared to be a set of four gills on either side of their cat-like faces, making eight gills in total, where the cheeks would be located on the face. This was a sign that these were acting as their eyes, picking up the heat signatures of their prey like snakes do, like with regular Krynoids. Like regular Krynoids, they had glowing crimson red spots on their bodies, only running down either side of their flanks and on the sides of their necks.

The long tentacles of a normal, regular Krynoid had been redistributed upon the bodies of this form, appearing only along the flanks and upon the back, swept back and running down the center of the back and down the flanks. Some of these long tentacles upon these creature's bodies were longer upon the rear end and were being trailed along behind them like long, elegant tails. They had these long glowing red boney extensions sticking out of the sides of their heads, one on each side, swept back down either side of their heads, ending half-way down their bodies.

The function and purpose of these extensions weren't made entirely clear until one of the creatures leaped onto the hood of the jeep and faced those within it. Suddenly, the extensions outstretched away from the face and body, revealing a large, evergreen-colored skin foil, which was covered in glowing crimson red spots and spread out wide around its head like a hood, which tampered off half-way down the sides of its body. It then let out a loud shriek, causing Saralis to panic a little and the jeep to swerve for a moment.

"Watch out, Saralis!" called out the Doctor as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the creature. The sound resonating from the sonic screwdriver was causing the creature to shake its head and roar in disagreement before it folded back down its skin foil and leaped off the hood of the jeep, hissing angrily.

Soon, ever more of the same creature began to appear, flanking the jeeps as they sped down the road. At one point, a few of these creatures were slamming their bodies against the sides of the jeeps, trying to stop them, while Krynolian Sky Banshees continued to dive bomb towards the jeeps. Amongst all the chaos that was going on around the fleeing group, Saralis could suddenly see the exit just in front of them. Only a few hundred feet and a thin wall of red cloud separated them from the relative safety which lied beyond.

"Doctor! The exit is in front of us!"

"Keep driving towards it! I'll try to keep them distracted with the sonic!" – The Doctor aimed the sonic up towards the sky and turned it on. This caused all the creatures around him to suddenly roar and shriek out in disagreement, causing some of them to stop or fly off. But more just kept coming and attacking.

"Doctor! There's too many of them! We're not going to make it out of here alive!" cried out Saralis, trying to keep control of the jeep. Their escape from the cloud was indeed becoming a hopeless venture until Clara tugged on the Doctor's sleeve once more, "Doctor! Look! It's Anaovlas!"

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Anaovlas shot out from the forest edge along the right side of the road in front of the jeeps and started throwing out a fierce breath of crimson-colored fire. This caused both the Krynolian Sky Banshees and the cat-like Krynoid creatures to completely stop in their tracks. The Krynolian Sky Banshees closest to Anaovlas's fire breath jerked back hard on their wings, trying to avoid it while the cat-like Krynoid creatures started to scatter in all directions.

Anaovlas turned his head to watch the jeeps flee, roaring loudly towards the direction of the fleeing jeeps before focusing back on the creatures that had been following them. The jeeps were finally free to leave the cloud as the Doctor and Clara were left looking back and watching Anaovlas fight with the other creatures from a distance, looking on from the back of the jeep they were in.

Clara then looked towards the Doctor and spoke, "Will he be alright, Doctor?"

"My brother has regenerated into the largest carnivorous creature on Krynolis. Of course he will be alright. But where's Auralynn? She should be with him."

"I don't see her, Doctor. Perhaps she's nearby watching safely, yeah?"

"Maybe. Yes, maybe...I hope." said the Doctor. And with that, the line of jeeps continued down the road and out through the wall of the cloud while one of the Krynolian Sky Banshees that had been attacking them landed on top of a tall structure nearby overlooking an overgrown London skyline and roared loudly in disagreement towards the direction of the fleeing jeeps.

Nearby, an unknown location was abuzz with laughter, joy and excitement. The circus was in town and everyone was coming out in style to enjoy a night of entertainment. But this was no ordinary circus and nor were the performers. Despite what had been going on with the threat of a strange cloud surrounding London, it wasn't dampening the spirits of the people in this place. Everyone seemed happy and content and didn't seem all that concerned about London or the cloud.

"Hear ye, hear ye!" called out the top-hatted ticket booth announcer, who was dressed to the nines and holding a long stick and handing out tickets, "Step right up and see the Greatest Show on this world and on the next! Come and experience the splendor and wondrous talents of the Grand Seer Harada of The Great Western Rim! Come and see the most magnificent and most exotic creatures you will ever see in your life this side of the Milky Way Galaxy!" – Thank-you very much for coming, you're all welcome here – Here ye, hear ye! Step right up!"

Around the announcer and near the large and unusually shaped circus tent, which was about three stories high and square-shaped, the flash bulbs of cameras were going off as people seemingly from all over England were coming to the circus. At one point, the announcer stepped behind a wall behind the ticket both and took off his coat in front of another person that was there with him, chatting to him. It was soon revealed that the announcer and the other person were Krynolians as they took off their hats and coats, revealing an extra set of arms and the long filaments on their foreheads that had been hidden under their hats.

Back at the UNIT camp where Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and his soldiers were camped, Saralis's jeep and the other jeeps that had been following behind it skidded to a stop nearby the camp. The Doctor and Clara quickly got out to look behind them as the Doctor spoke, "Fascinating!"

"What is?" asked Clara, walking up next to the Doctor and standing.

"The cloud! Seeing it from the outside gives me some bearing as to where its source is."

The cloud was some distance away, looking like great upside-down bowl made of red cloud, somewhat stretched in appearance, but it was many miles wide and completely covering over London and some of its surrounding towns.

Saralis then spoke, "_That_ cloud is massive, Doctor. We're nearly 30 miles away from that thing and it appears like its only half that distance."

"We're in the lush English countryside now, Saralis." The Doctor went on, "Seeing the cloud from _this_ vantage point at the top of a hill gives us bearing and scope. It tells us where we need to go to find its source."

"We _know_ where its source is, Doctor. The problem is anyone that we send to go find it disappears without a trace." said a mysterious male voice behind the Doctor. The Doctor and Clara quickly turned around, only to see Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart standing there with some of his men, including Daniel, in full uniform. Only Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart wasn't human anymore, but a fully fledged Krynolian.

The Doctor soon excitably ran up to Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and began walking circles around him, looking him over, "Fascinating. The initial fallout from the cloud got you to I see. No longer are you the person you once were, but something _new_. You're one of Kate Stewart's sons aren't you?"

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart replied, following the Doctor with his eyes until the Doctor stopped and faced him, "Quite so, sir. And you are my mother's and grandfather's old alien Time Lord friend, The Doctor. We were hoping that you could help us with our little problem."

The Doctor quickly turned around and ran back up to where Clara was again to look upon the cloud once more, "This place is slowly becoming a mad house, Brigadier. Soon, no one will be able to resist the influence of the cloud. Eventually, the whole planet will succumb to its influence and by then I won't be able to reverse it."

"Then you must stop it before it takes over the whole planet, Doctor." replied Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, "You must find a way to stop it before it takes over the planet and everyone on it."

"I would, Brigadier. But how, _how_? I wouldn't know where to begin looking except to go back into the cloud itself to find its source with the use of my TARDIS. And that is still in the cloud."

"But we can't, Doctor, we just escaped from there!" exclaimed Clara.

"I know that, Clara. And by the way, there is no _we_ in _this_." said the Doctor, keeping his eyes on the cloud as he spoke, "If I go back into the cloud, Clara, I will go back into the cloud _alone_ while you will stay _here_ where it's safe. I'm going to need the TARDIS to help me find the source of the cloud and stop it."

"Doctor, you've known me long enough now that I am not about to let you go back and be in there alone! And don't you dare try to stop me from following you with all these soldiers around!" barked Clara, standing next to the Doctor once more.

The Doctor looked at Clara and smiled, "That's my Clara, my Impossible Girl!"

"So what do we do now then? Drive a jeep back there or something?"

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart then spoke up, "Actually, you don't need to because I think we have your TARDIS here, Doctor."

The Doctor and Clara both halfway turned around at the same time to look behind them, looking on at the Brigadier puzzlingly and then at one another.

A few moments later, The Doctor and Clara found themselves at the entrance to a tent with the tent flaps pulled back by soldiers that were guarding its entrance. The Doctor and Clara peeked in, only to see a familiar object standing in a corner within it. It was indeed a TARDIS, only it was in the appearance of an elegantly carved Victorian streampunk-style wardrobe made of well-polished rosewood. It had two doors with these weird steampunk style knobs on them and these weird steampunk style legs, four legs in total. It had bits and pieces of mechanics and clockwork embedded within the wood, all shinny and metallic - elegant round clock faces of various sizes, gears, moving clockwork parts, widgets, knobs and all sorts of little bits and pieces all over it, with a little elegant dome-shaped light on top.

It even had a little set of five shinny sliver steam pipes of various lengths sticking out of the upper right top of it, which were halfway inlaid within the right side of the wardrobe and ran down the right side all the way to the bottom where then they ended, wrapping around and tampering into the base. And wherever the wood was exposed, there was a flash of crimson-colored circular Gallifreyan writing, which was barely seen upon the wood except when there was light shining on it.

"Is that your TARDIS?" asked Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart with a smile.

"No, but I'm sure we'd like to know who it belongs to." said Clara, referring to the Doctor and impressed and in awe by the sight of this strange steampunk TARDIS.

"Fascinating, another TARDIS here!" said the Doctor walking up to it and circling it, "...and so very nostalgic, vintage Time Lord!"

"What, do you Time Lords have a thing for steampunk or something?" asked Clara, looking on.

"Not only that, Clara! The Gallifreyans invented the steampunk style!" - The Doctor then stopped and stood facing in front of it and placed his hands on the door knobs, glittery-eyed, "The Victorians copied off the style from us Gallifreyans! We did have a few Gallifreyans visiting Earth then. How they loved their gears, clocks and knobs."

"So how do we get in there then?"

"Simple. If this is the model-type TARDIS I think it is, there should be a little slot with a sliding door in the upper right top with an extra key hiding in it, sitting just underneath the pipes. Clara, give us a leg up!" - The Doctor bent his left leg in front of him a little and positioned his body as if waiting for Clara to climb up and get the key from the slot.

"Wait, I'm not giving you a leg up!" exclaimed Clara.

"No, I meant _you_. Come on, come and get that key."

Clara quickly stepped up on the Doctor's left leg as the Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist so she wouldn't fall, "Do you see it up there, Clara? Just underneath the pipes!"

Clara, noticing the slot, quickly opened it and pulled out a shiny silver skeleton key on a long glittery sliver chain.

"Seems rather a bit exciting for you to find another TARDIS here, because you know that where there is a TARDIS, there is bound to be another Time Lord or Time Lady around. Perhaps you should open it, Doctor." said Clara, handing the silvery key to the Doctor. But the Doctor hesitated a moment with a nervous, slightly uneasy look on his face before he gave a shake of the head and quickly gave it back to Clara, "I don't think I have the nerve, Clara. It might be a little too exciting for my hearts to take at the moment, maybe you should open it."

"Scaredy-cat..." said Clara with a grin as she turned and placed the key in the lock.

"Shut up..." replied the Doctor as the doors to the steampunk TARDIS opened. But as Clara disappeared inside and the Doctor started to walk in, he quickly stopped a moment and looked back at Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and holding onto the door, "Sir, I know this might be a long shot to ask but do you happen to have any idea as to who owns _this_ TARDIS?"

"Actually, no. We actually thought it was _your_ TARDIS."

"And why would you think that?"

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart looked at Commander Daniel, who was standing next to him a moment, then looked back at the Doctor, "Well, it seems like something that would be _your_ style, sir."

"Brigadier, if you have ever looked in the UNIT records on _my_ TARDIS, you will realize that my TARDIS is a blue police box, not a streampunk clockwork wardrobe with crimson colored Gallifreyan circular writing tattooed all over it! You pudding-brains never learn..." - the Doctor stuck his head inside a moment, then looked back at the Brigadier again, "...I'm sorry, was I being rude just now? So sorry, Brigadier, don't mind one word of that. I don't mean to be rude or anything by running off like this, but me and Clara have to go and save a planet while you and some of your men have to sit back and coup with no longer being the poor little pudding-brains that you once were, now with long antennae and four arms...sorry, I'm being rude again. I better go." - And with that, the Doctor vanished inside a moment.

Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart then stepped forward and spoke concernedly, "But Doctor, how will you and your companion be keeping in touch with me and my soldiers? What if we need you out here, outside the cloud? You don't even know where the source of the cloud is!"

The Doctor stepped halfway out again, "Shush, working! Me and Clara are going to go do a thing now. Bye, Brigadier!" - And with that, the Doctor vanished into the steampunk TARDIS again, slamming the door shut. Then, with what sounded like a loud combination of a steam train whistle and a fog horn, along with a large puff of steam coming from the silver pipes atop the steampunk TARDIS, the familiar sound of a TARDIS dematerializing began to fill the air, vanishing in a haze of blue light.

Inside this steampunk TARDIS, things were even more mad and crazy. The Control Room of this steampunk TARDIS had the same layout as the Control Room in the Doctor's TARDIS, only in hyperdrive steampunk form, looking more like a steampunk style library with steampunk style roundels in some parts of the wall. The console itself was framed in rosewood and looked heavily embedded with moving clockwork, levers, knobs, buttons, switches and other little gadgets and gizmos, along with rotating, swiveling view-screens and holographic projectors. The cylinder-shaped rotor at the center was in two parts, with the bottom part attached to the console and the upper part suspended over it, hanging down from the ceiling. Both parts of the rotor were encapsulated in a mesh of moving clockwork, with only the transparent glass cylinder section of the rotor exposed so that the red cylinder-shaped light inside of it could be seen.

Unlike the Control Room in the Doctor's TARDIS, this control coom appeared much larger and was about three-stories high, with an elegant steampunk style spiral staircase going up to a metal wrap-around walkway about 20 feet up, overlooking the console bellow. There were steampunk style bookshelves full of books lining parts of the walls and openings connected to various corridors leading to other sections of the steampunk TARDIS that were higher up. On the ground floor, just off the steampunk control room, there was a garden room, a study, a sleeping area with hammocks and a doorway which led to other sections of the steampunk TARDIS on the ground floor.

"Look at this Control Room, Doctor! It's so airy, steampunky and spacious!" said Clara, running around the control console.

"And it's not _ours_, Clara. We're just borrowing it."

"So what kind of TARDIS is this, Doctor?"

"A newer model, Clara. A Type 425. A far, far more advanced TARDIS then my own!"

"OK, so what makes _this_ TARDIS so much better then _yours_?" asked Clara, standing on the opposite side of the steampunk console from the Doctor.

"_Stuff_, Clara. Highly advantaged, cutting edge, Gallifreyan stuff. Come and take a look at this, Clara."

The Doctor suddenly held up an object that looked like the size of a dinner plate but as thick as a book. It was black in color and with black handles on either side along with a black, blank screen on the front of it. There were lighted blue buttons on the handles which the Doctor started to press to activate it.

He then looked up at Clara and smiled, "Watch this, Clara."

The Doctor then, in proper textbook fashion, brought the screen of the device up to his face and planted his face into it. The black screen rippled blue light around the edges of the Doctor's face for only a moment. The Doctor then brought down the device from his face. To Clara's shock and amazement, the Doctor's face was changed, wearing the face of the 11th Doctor, though his voice did not change, "Remember this daft face, Clara?"

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Clara, covering her eyes a moment and turning around, she then turned back again and looked again, "Why are you wearing that face again? What is that, Doctor? How are you doing that? That's just wrong. So not fair, Doctor. Put your daft old face back on."

The Doctor flashed the 11th Doctor's mischievous smile, "I thought you might want to see it. Remarkable isn't it? But like I've told you before, Clara. I am still the same Doctor you met long ago. The Time Lord's face changes, but the Time Lord is still the same Time Lord."

The Doctor brought the device up to his face again and and a couple moments later brought it down from his face again, this time with the 10th Doctor's face, "Sorry, is this disturbing you?"

"No, you're being not fair again," Clara went on, crossing her arms, "That's not funny. You should know by now I still haven't quite gotten over the last face yet."

"Yes, I know, sorry, but I had to show you what this device can do. It's a Nano-Organic Latex Fabricator. You just think about the face you want to put on and the nanobots in the screen grow an elaborately woven organic latex mask over your real face, perfectly fitted to your face. Gallifreyan technology greatly cuts down the time needed to apply a rubber mask to hide your real face."

But just before the Doctor could explain further, the familiar sound of a TARDIS landing could be heard. He then looked at Clara with the 10th Doctor's wide-eyed expression and spoke, "Well, wherever we are, Clara, it must not have been too far."

Soon, the Doctor, once again wearing his current face, began to step out of the strange TARDIS with Clara following after, only to find themselves in a strange Dressing Room.

Then suddenly, half way out the door to the strange TARDIS, "BOO!" - A person with a strange and colorful mask over their face popped up in front of the Doctor and Clara out of nowhere, causing the Doctor to flinch a little and Clara to go 'eep!'. The person behind the mask soon took off their mask, revealing the face of a young Krynolian male, "Hahaha, did I startle you? You two should see your faces! Classic reaction."

But the face that appeared from behind the mask was a face that the Doctor and Clara had seen before. It was Taelaphis, the Krynolian that was attacked by a Krynoid earlier when he stepped out of his tent. The Doctor and Clara were about to say something until they noticed two other Krynolians in the odd round dressing room, oddly furnished with items and furniture that was not of Earth origin. One of the other Krynolians, a female, soon spoke up, "Come now Taelaphis. It is not polite to startle Time Lords like that. And besides, it's rare for us to have guests from Gallifrey around here."

The male Krynolian who had the mask on, Taelaphis, soon turned away and wandered back to where he was dressing into costume as the other male Krynolian in the room spoke while the Doctor and Clara stepped out of the steampunk TARDIS completely and shut the door behind them, still unsure as to why Taelaphis was there and how he managed to survive his Krynoid attack, "You know, the last time this galactically renowned traveling circus has ever been to Gallifrey was back during the time when Pendak the 4th was Lord President. Do you remember that, Anarina?" said the male Krynolian speaking, looking at the female Krynolian, Anarina, that had spoken prior.

"Oh yes. Pendak the Perilous. This circus went to entertain him and his family when my grandmother was still a performer here, alongside my mother and a much younger little me. He was such a strange little fellow though. But not a bad host nor was he bad looking to the eyes."

"Hey _I_ was _there_ to and so was Ezarphin as well!" hissed Taelaphis as the Doctor suddenly started to speak as Clara looked on silently, who was itching to say something about Taelaphis being attacked earlier, "Pardon me for asking, but where are we?"

The three Krynolians suddenly looked at the Doctor as the other male Krynolian, Ezarphin, spoke, "I say, that's unheard of. Gallifreyans not knowing where they are?"

"Listen, I'm the only Gallifreyan here at the moment," - The Doctor went on as he briefly pointed back at Clara then continued, "This is Clara, she's my..."

"Carer. I'm human and I'm his carer." said Clara as the Doctor continued again while Clara glared at Taelaphis, "Well, those things and my assistant as well."

"Ouuuurrr, a Time Lord male and a human female together in a TARDIS. The mind races does it not?" said Taelaphis gawking and smiling mischievously.

"Don't you start, Taelaphis," said Anarina, holding up a bucket filled with water in front of Taelaphis and threatening him with it, "or I shall pour this bucket of icy cold water I was going to give to Daenaphin for his bath on you...again?"

Ezarphin chuckled, "Oh yeah, Daenaphin will really like that. He hates it when you clean him with cold water."

Taelaphis laughed as Anarina spoke, looking at Ezarphin annoyingly, "And who says the water is cold by the time it gets there?"

Ezarphin replied, "Because I know it is and he hates it."

"Excuse me but as interesting as this conversation is," said the Doctor sarcastically, "Would you mind telling me and Clara as to where we are? Hold on..." - said the Doctor, deciding now to confront Taelaphis with the fact that he had seen him before and that he had been attacked by a Krynoid, "What did you say your name was again?"

Suddenly, the lights in the dressing room flickered and the ground started to rumble.

"Oh no, not again! Always every 7 days!" cried Ezarphin as he stormed out of the entrance to the dressing room with Taelaphis and Anarina in toe. The Doctor and Clara quickly followed after them.

Outside beyond the circus tent, people were shouting and screaming, holding onto one another and running to find cover. For a few moments, the ground shook violently, the ground cracking and clouds of dirt and steam bellowing up underneath the ground. But as quickly as the earthquake had started, the rumbling became lesser and lesser until finally, it stopped.

Ezarphin and others quickly ran out the circus tent and stopped, overlooking the damage. Ezarphin then spoke, "Is everyone alright? No one hurt?"

Some of the people around him began to speak, saying that they were alright and that no one was hurt. Ezarphin then looked at the Doctor, who was standing to the left of him and spoke, "I'm rather glad you're here, old Time Lord. Cause we are just as baffled as anyone about this."

Ezarphin and those around him then panned their eyes across the scene of a large crack in the ground, starting from the entrance to the circus tent and running out miles in front of them. Ezarphin went on as the Doctor stepped down onto a large boulder lying inside the gaping crack in front of him, "Once every 7 days it does this and every time, the next day, the cracks vanish. POOF. Nowhere, without a trace and no sign left behind that they were ever there."

"Fascinating," - The Doctor went on, his eyes scanning over the scene, "And has it been doing this ever since you all got here?"

"Well, at least we think so, sir." said Ezarphin.

"And how long ago was that then?"

"About 3 months ago. But it doesn't seem that long ago. I know that the last planet we held the circus on, it was never like this. Remember the last planet we went to, Anarina?" said Ezarphin, talking to Anarina standing to the right of him.

"Oh yes, the planet Voksacoralaphinoras. A Slitheen colony world. The Slitheens there are allot more nicer and peace-loving. Not like the Slitheen on their mother planet I can tell you."

"Save it for later you two." said the Doctor as he climbed out of the crack with the help of Clara, once again standing on flat ground, "Right now, we have a much deeper and darker problem on our hands. So - you say you've been here 3 months now?" asked the Doctor, looking at Taelaphis, who was standing to the right of Anarina.

"Quite so and ever since then we've been getting these earthquakes." - Taelaphis went on, "Course of nature's habit I suppose."

"And do you happen to know that you were attacked by the Krynoid earlier?" asked the Doctor, finally bringing up the fact that Taelaphis had been attacked by a Krynoid earlier and by rights, should not still be alive. Taelaphis then spoke, "Attacked, sir? I was never attacked. There are no Krynoids here."

"But you were attacked by a Krynoid earlier, I remember hearing about it earlier now. So how did you survive then?" asked the Doctor once more.

But Taelaphis responded coolly, "I don't know what you are talking about, sir. Their are no Krynoids here. Never were. All I know is that there might be _something_ sinister involved that is the cause of all these earthquakes."

"Or _someone_ perhaps. Do you think it's a thing, Doctor?" asked Clara, standing nearby.

"Yes, I think it's a thing, Clara. A very big, complicated thing. Some of which is standing closer to us then many of us realize." said the Doctor as he glared at Taelaphis and Taelaphis glared back coolly, as if knowing that he wasn't telling the whole story.

"It's a shame about Arana though." said Anarina, causing both Clara and the Doctor to look at her.

"Arana? What about Arana?" asked the Doctor.

"Hold on, Doctor. Isn't that Saralis's sister?" asked Clara to the Doctor.

"Yes it is, Clara. The missing female Krynolian that my unfortunate beastly brother Anaovlas had _my_ displeasure of falling in love with."

"Hold on, that's not fair!" barked Clara as the Doctor continued, glancing over at Clara a moment then looking back at Anarina, "Sorry, course of nature's habit." said the Doctor, word dropping from what Taelaphis said earlier, who was still looking at the Doctor coolly.

"Arana was one of our top performers here." said Ezarphin, looking on, "She came to us a couple months ago with a few others from Krynolis. She seemed alright. Did what she was told and did her act as she was supposed to do according to Mother..."

"Mother? I think I might have heard mention of that before not to long ago." said the Doctor, thinking back to what the Krynoid that almost attacked him and Clara earlier said before it was killed.

"Yes, she is a very important Krynolian to us. Speaking of which, we should be expecting to see _her_ very soon now..." said Anarina softly, leaning towards Ezarphin, who brought his hand up towards her, telling her to keep quiet as he continued, "...then about a week ago, we had the largest earthquake yet, a bit stronger then the one we had just now and POOF, Arana fell into one of the cracks, swallowed up, never to be seen again..."

Anarina butted in again, "Then, about a couple days ago, I saw Arana, sitting on a tree stump just beyond the circus camp. She appeared like she hadn't suffered any injuries from her fall. She had on her long, red hooded cloak, her two long arm blades and everything. But she seemed so sad..."

Ezarphin went 'pppffft!' then spoke towards Anarina, "You know as fairy stories go Anarina, you are rather good at weaving them."

"I'm telling you, Ezarphin, it's true! I saw her!"

"Anarina, it is impossible. No one could have survived _that_ fall. Besides, don't you have an old friend waiting for a bath somewhere?"

Anarina angrily scoffed then continued, "I'll give you a fairy story to tell when you find a nice pile of Daenaphin's brown stuff on your bed tonight!"

"Don't you dare!" hissed Ezarphin.

"Oh yes I would!" hissed Anarina while everyone looked on. Clara quickly covered her mouth to keep from laughing as she and the others watched Anarina disappear into the circus tent grumbling to herself.

Ezarphin then continued, looking back at the Doctor, "Pay no attention to that, Doctor. My younger sister is always like that."

"I see." said the Doctor, glancing over at Taelaphis once more, then back at Ezarphin, "And what of Taelaphis here?" - Taelaphis listened quietly and silently as the Doctor continued, "When did he join your little circus?"

"Oh, he's been with us for a while now. He's my sister's mate. And one heck of a good performer. What say you, Taelaphis?"

"Quite so," said Taelaphis with a smile, "I've been with the cirus for a while now. And I have never been attacked by a Krynoid."

Ezarphin looked on puzzlingly as The Doctor and Taelaphis passed some silent, tense glances between one another as Ezarphin pulled out his watch from his pocket and spoke, "Oh my, will you look at the time! I think it's time that we all got ready for the next show! We should be expecting Mother any time now."

"Who's this Mother then?" asked the Doctor.

"Mother? She's the Matriarch of the Circus. She pays us good money to keep the circus going and all that. Food, clothing. All the stuff we need to survive and keep running. She always comes to see us perform after an earthquake so we best be getting ready for her appearance. My sister rather likes to see her when she comes."

"Does she?"

"Yeah. She likes the strange-looking lace parasol that Mother carries around with her, the blue one with all the Gallifreyan circular writing on it. Anyway, you and your friend better find you a seat inside. This circus tent fills up incredibly fast. Come along, Taelaphis. Let's get ready for Mother's arrival."

And with that, Ezarphin and Taelaphis wandered back into the circus tent with others in toe, but not before Taelaphis sent another glance back at the Doctor, narrowing his eyes. The Doctor then smiled mischievously and gave a nod of his head at Taelaphis as he stepped back to stand next to Clara, looking on intensely, "Fascinating."

"What is?" asked Clara.

"Taelaphis," said the Doctor as Taelaphis looked away and vanished into the tent with Ezarphin, "He shouldn't even be alive now after he was attacked by that Krynoid earlier. Furthermore, these people only think about the earthquake for so long, then go back to what they were doing. Don't you think that's strange, Clara?"

"A lot strange, Doctor and

I should think so with an earthquake happening every 7 days."

"Which is followed by a visit from someone they call Mother. We have quite a thing, Clara. A rather complicated thing." - The Doctor then smiled and looked at Clara, "Well then Clara, what say you?"

"What say you what?" said Clara, looking on puzzlingly.

"Do you mind coming to the circus with me?" the Doctor brought up his right arm so that Clara could grab onto it, "I bet it's going to be an entertaining and educational experience, to see all those exotic creatures from other planets. Come along then, Clara. Let's go get our seats!"

And with that, Clara locked her left arm onto the Doctor's right and together, they vanished through the entrance to the circus tent, where many more mysteries as well as answers, were waiting for them inside.

Nearby, Anaovlas was going through a lush, forested section towards a river to get a drink, slithering past various strange and exotic alien creatures. As he was slithering underneath a large, low hanging branch, there was what looked like an owl at first, as it was the same size and had the same face as that of a barn owl, sitting on the branch above him.

Until, startled by Anaovlas's presence, a long, swept back, peacock-like tail suddenly revealed itself trailing behind its body, along with two sets of wings and a long, flattened neck like that of a giraffe. It had one set of larger wings placed where they would normally be on a bird, but a second smaller set, which was only a quarter of the size of the larger set, attached to the sides of the head. The eyes of the peacock-like tail feathers bared the same layout as like that of peacock feathers, only in the colors of a barn owl, with the orange-yellow color as the central eye color, then white-tan, then light gray and so on. The tail was with the same pattern of small black spots like found on a barn owl's feathers, which where all over the rest of its feathers. The central eyes of the bird's tail feathers glowed in the dark with a bright orange-yellow bioluminescence, as did other broken rows of tiny orange-yellow spots that were all over the rest of its body, tail and wings.

The strange, long-necked, owl-like bird let out a strange screech, which sounded like a combination of a groan and nails running across a chalkboard as it opened up both sets of wings and flew off. Though unlike the larger wings on the bird, the smaller wings did not flap, but were spread out the sides of the head and tampering off midway down the neck. Other weird-looking creatures of all sizes, shapes and designs were scurrying away from Anaovlas as he passed through, some flashing off their bioluminescence, some growling and hissing at him.

Once he made it to the river's edge, he let out a low growl and hiss before sticking his snout down in the water, unaware that he was being watched by a woman in a long, red cloak nearby, looking at him from around a tree. It didn't take long for Anaovlas to sense her presence nearby, causing him to stop drinking and turn his head to look at her. Anaovlas let out a roar as he slowly turned around to face the woman, who cautiously stepped out, putting up her hands in front of her in a defensive manner and looking up at him.

"It's alright, Anaovlas. It's me. I was hoping I would find you. I sensed you." said the woman, walking slowly up to Anaovlas, who was now leaning his head in towards her, realizing who she was. Anaovlas then spoke, mentally speaking to her, "Arana. My Arana. How I have missed you. How my hearts pain me for you to see me like _this_." - Anaovlas brought his head down to meet Arana's, where then they went forehead to forehead together. Anaovlas began to purr happily as Arana spoke, crying, "What happened to you? You've..."

"Yes, my dear. I've become a hideous beast. I feel so sad for you seeing me like this." said Anaovlas, who suddenly turned his large beastly head and looked away as if ashamed. But Arana smiled as she brought her right hand up to the left side of his face and shifted his head back to face her again, "It's alright, Anaovlas. No matter what face you wear, I still know it is you."

"But how can you love me? I am a beast now! I am no longer the person you fell in love with. I mean, just _look at me_!"

"I am _looking_ at _you_. I do see _you_." said Arana, smiling still, "I'll always see _you_. And I'll always keep loving _you_."

With that and without hesitation, Arana then wrapped her arms around Anaovlas face, causing him to lift her from the ground, positioning his head so she could settle on his back. Once they were ready, they headed in the direction of the circus.

**...CONTINUED CHAPTER 5...**


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5:

The Doctor and Clara kept talking as they went into the circus tent. The Doctor continued, "Well, at least we know we're still on Earth, Clara. That's why it didn't take us long to get here with the co-ordinates in the streampunk TARDIS controls."

"Funny, I didn't think you we're paying to attention to any co-ordinates."

"You mean the face thing? No, that's was just a side show. Now we're at the real show. A galactically renowned alien circus run by Krynolians I am to assume and a person called Mother."

"Well, whoever she is certainly picked a horrible place to pitch a circus tent."

"It's alright for now, Clara, at least until we can get to the bottom of all this."

As Clara and the Doctor found their way to their seats, Clara and the Doctor are struck by the set up inside the circus tent. The seats were atop rows of balconies, stacked up one on top of the other. The balconies were attached to the interior walls of the tent, which appeared to be solid in the places where the balconies were attached, but loose in all the other places.

The balconies wrapped all the way around the large and expansive room within, which, like a typical circus, it had three circus rings for the performers and the creatures to perform.

But the strange thing about them was that they were set up like you might see a typical wedding cake set up as, with the largest ring closest to the ground and the smaller rings stacked on top of it set upon circular raised portions of the ground at the center of each ring. The circus tent itself was about four stories high, but there was only one wrap-around balcony of seats to each of the three rings, totaling three balconies all together.

"No seats on the ground floor, Clara." said the Doctor as he began to climb a spiral staircase nearby.

"Why not?"

"Cause they need the whole ground floor and three raised rings to perform on and sometimes the creatures get a bit rowdy. I should know, I've been to another alien circus similar to this one in the past on planet Vispiradin and they made the mistake of putting onlookers on the ground floor close to the performing animals. It seems this alien circus might have learned from that mistake by placing the seats high up off the ground instead of on the ground floor. Come along, Clara."

There was a spiral staircase at each of the four corners of the square-shaped circus tent which allowed access to the seats on the balconies above. As Clara began walking up the spiral staircase behind the Doctor and onto the lowest of the three balconies, the Doctor called out, pointing towards a place near the opposite end of the tent, "Let's sit over there, Clara. We have an old friend watching from the ground floor below there."

Clara looked over at where the Doctor was pointing, only to see that it was Anaovlas, with his head and a portion of his body inside the tent. Arana was still sitting on his back, hugging close the top of his head. It seemed that an opening had been made inside the tent so that he could watch the performance. But Anaovlas was such a large Krynolian Dragon-Snake; he couldn't bring his whole body inside.

"Hold on, why is he here?" asked Clara, looking over at Anaovlas then back at the Doctor, "And how do you know it's him?"

"I know it is. Time Lords can recognize one another no matter what face or body we put on and can sense the presence of their own kind when close by them. But who is that Krynolian female with him and where is Auralynn? She should be with him."

"Maybe she's still looking for him and don't know he's here?"

"I hope you're right, Clara and that she is alright and still somewhere nearby. Which is a good thing." said the Doctor, stopping in mid walk and looking at her.

"Why?"

"Because I'm having a funny feeling that something very wrong is going on here, especially with this circus. But I don't outwardly sense any trouble or danger here for some reason. But I can smell something strange in the air in here, don't you smell it, Clara? It is a sweet smell, a pleasant smell even." said the Doctor, looking back at Clara a moment.

Clara sniffed the air alittle, "I do, sort of. But I don't think it's anything dangerous, it's actually rather nice."

"I thought you might say that, Clara." said the Doctor, smiling a little as he looked away and walked forward again as he continued, "Something in this circus tent is altering our perceptions to the point where we feel safe and happy to be here."

"You mean like some sort of collective mental block or something?"

"No, it's something much more subtle then that, Clara, and I know that something is very wrong here. Our perceptions are being altered in here, like some type of perception filter but a bit more different and much more creative."

"Well, I don't see anything wrong in here. I see humans and Krynolians in here taking their seats for the show, that's all I see."

"Then why haven't you noticed that there are more then just humans and Krynolians in here?" asked the Doctor, stopping and looking back at Clara once more.

Clara began to scope the area around her. It took her a moment or two, but once she swept her full range of view, she began to notice that not everyone in the tent was as who they seem. One woman that was standing near the step off from the spiral staircase onto the balcony looked human at first, until Clara blinked and looked at her again.

Once she did that, she noticed that the woman was in fact a Krynoid. But when she blinked again, the Krynoid looked like a woman again.

"You see, Clara?" said the Doctor, glancing over at where Clara was looking, then looking back at Clara, "Some things are not at all what they seem in this circus tent. We best be alert because something is very wrong in here. Stop looking at her and don't panic. If she notices that you know she's not human, she might attack and cause a panic."

Clara quickly grabbed onto the Doctor's hand, glaring at the woman with a fearful wide-eyed stare, "Doctor, did you notice this before we came in here?"

"I might have a little. But now I can really notice it. Some of the people in this circus tent are not what they seem. Stop looking at her, Clara, you're still looking at her."

"I can't help it, I'm noticing her." said Clara as the woman she was looking at started to glance over in Clara's direction.

"Then stop. Let's focus on getting to our seats right now. We'll deal with whatever this is later."

And with that, the Doctor went forward again as Clara quickly looked away from the woman and started following the Doctor to their seats, which hopefully were far away from any invisible Krynoids nearby. Clara quickly grabbed onto the Doctor's arm as they were walking away going to their seats, speaking quietly so as not to be overheard, "Why are there Krynoids here? Krynoids in this circus tent? And why isn't anyone noticing them?"

"Like I said, Clara. There is some sort of perception altering at work here. Some alteration in our viewpoint that makes us see and think that they are humans or Krynolians when they actually aren't. Did you not notice something strange about that scent in the air just a moment ago?"

"I don't know, should I have done?"

"I think that would have given you a major clue that something is very wrong with this circus. And something is very wrong with this circus, Clara. And we must certainly find the source of it before it's too late."

Suddenly, as the Doctor and Clara were sitting down in their seats, fanfare rose up from the ground floor below. A roar of clapping, whistling and cheering soon rose up from the balconies as a male Krynolian, dressed in a ringmaster's outfit and with a top hat and cane in hand, stepped out into the white spotlight that was aimed at the top most ring. After a few moments looking at the crowd before him, the ringmaster then swished his cane and spoke as the clapping and cheering steadily died down, "Welcome, humans and Krynolians, to the Greatest Show this side of the Milky Way Galaxy!"

The crowd began to applaud for a moment then stopped again as the ringmaster continued, swishing his cane once more, "The greatest show of this world..." - with a swish of the hand, the cane transformed into flowers - "...and the next." - The flowers transformed into a flash of blue fire and disappeared. The ringmaster went on, gesturing with his hands, "Here, you will see things unlike what you've ever seen before. Exotic alien creatures of all shapes, sizes and colors from all over the galaxy are here for you tonight, all under this one tent. Here, among these three majestic rings, a world of magic and imagination shall unfold before your very eyes. Prepare to be amazed, excited and perhaps a bit frightened..." - the crowd laughed - "...First up for your enjoyment, is a woman who needs no introduction. A beautiful Krillitane woman who tonight has come to share her fantastic mental and dimensional-shifting talents with all of you. From the Second Moon of Jarsapphire, open your eyes and ears to the wonder, to the mysterious and the majestic Grand Seer Harada of The Great Western Rim!"

The crowd applauded once more as the ringmaster stepped aside and a woman stepped out into the spotlight from behind him on the upper top ring. The Doctor stared at the woman a moment and spoke, "She must be from a lost and separate branch of the Krillitane race, because they don't look like that anymore."

"Like what, Doctor?"

"Like humans with really long necks."

Clara soon noticed that the woman, Harada, did indeed look human-like, but her neck was long like a giraffe's neck, only more spindly. She was tall and spindly, at least 15 feet tall not including her long, spindly neck, with long and spindly arms and legs, at least twice the length of human arms and legs. She also had an impressive set of wings, which looked like the same kind of wings the Doctor had seen on the Krillitanes he had encountered earlier with Sarah Jane Smith, only they were a bit larger.

She was dressed in a colorful and elaborate gown of long cloth and rags, some of which trailed behind her like a long tail. Her hair was long and loose, dark reddish-brown in color. She had beautiful, peering, yellow eyes and a fair complexion, pretty in the face. She soon raised her left arm, which within her left hand; she held what looked like a crystal ball.

"Fascinating." said the Doctor, looking on, "That's no ordinary crystal ball she is holding."

"What do you mean, Doctor? It looks like a regular crystal ball to me." added Clara, looking on and enjoying the sights around her, but also keeping an eye out for any Krynoids nearby in disguise as the Doctor continued, "Watch and see, Clara. And keep your eyes and ears open."

"Why?"

"Cause something strange is about to happen and I don't want you to get hurt by it. Stay close."

Inside the crystal ball, there suddenly appeared to be storm clouds, swirling and shifting about within it. Harada then brought her right hand over the crystal ball and began waving it over it. Suddenly, as the crystal ball began to glow a strange blue light, a bright cloud of blue mist began to swirl up around her, slowly becoming a whirling funnel around her. Harada then began to slowly be lifted off the ground, rising higher and higher within the swirling vortex of blue light around her, the light of which began to ripple out away from the source as everyone in the circus tent began to gawk as Clara spoke, "I say, that's wrong. That's certainly wrong isn't it? How is she doing that?"

The Doctor then spoke, "Now _that_ Clara Oswold, is the 'something strange' I was just telling you about."

"

What is that, Doctor? Is that a light of some kind? A trick with smoke and mirrors or something?"

"No, it isn't. That is dimensional rift energy. A genuine massive flux of dimensional rift energy. That crystal ball she's holding belongs to a time stitcher. It's pulling the energy right out of the space/time vortex and using it to...I don't know what yet." - The Doctor paused a moment as Clara continued, "Well, what is wrong with it, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked over at Clara and continued, "Wrong? Everything is wrong here, Clara. With the Earth being transformed into another planet, the Krynoids transforming into something we don't know what yet and my brother transformed into a fire-breathing serpent of death? Of course Clara, everything is just fine here," said the Doctor sarcastically, "And just so you know, we are not in Kansas anymore...quite literally. Do you know where we are, Clara?"

"We're at a strange alien circus on Earth full of aliens and disguised Krynoids, watching a strange alien woman use a strange crystal ball to pull out a strange alien energy out of the space/time vortex."

"Well, yes and no. Well, mostly yes. Yes, we are at a strange alien circus full of aliens and disguised Krynoids, watching a strange alien woman use a strange crystal ball to pull out a strange alien energy out of the space/time vortex. But I wouldn't say we were on Earth...exactly."

Suddenly, as Harada reached the center of the spinning vortex, she brought the crystal ball closer to her chest as the spinning vortex began to spin faster and faster and the ripples of light began to pulse faster and faster outwards from the source while a light began to form near the top of the vortex.

Then suddenly with a mighty boom, the light near the top of the vortex shot down through the walls of the vortex and into the ground, rippling across the ground like lightening in a massive flash of brilliant white which caused some of the people in the crowd to raise their hands up to shield their eyes. But once the light had died down, they could see Harada drift back down to the ground and land in the exact same place she was standing before.

She then took the crystal ball away from her chest and smiled. The crowd began to cheer and clap their hands, including Clara. But the Doctor didn't look all that amused, looking on intensely. As the show progressed, Clara and the Doctor saw various alien creatures and alien performers doing a variety of things that would be a familiar sight in any typical Earth circus, only they were alien versions of those things.

There were a great multitude of strange and beautiful alien creatures of various shapes, sizes and colors dancing on their hind legs, jumping through hoops of fire, balancing strange-looking beach balls on their noses and so on. There were even some Krynolian dancers doing strange and beautiful dance routines, with their faces painted with strange, colorful and elaborate swirly face markings, colorful and strange outfits, wearing elaborate and colorful hair braids framing their faces, along with bright, colorful and strange-looking feathers sticking out of their hair and so on.

After 15 minutes of this, the Doctor soon noticed a woman watching the show from a private viewing box on the opposite side of the circus tent. She was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman with long, loosely hanging, dark brown hair and with strangely colored reddish-purple eyes, which appeared as though they could look right through you and into your soul, piercing like a knife.

She was wearing what appeared to be a Victorian nanny outfit, very similar to the attire the Doctor had seen the Mistress wearing. Though unlike the Mistress's attire, the whole of this woman's attire was a deep crimson red color, just like Arana's cloak.

She was sitting next to a male Krynolian to the right and a couple Krynolian females to the left who appeared to be servants of some kind.

"And that I am to assume is our mysterious Mother, Matriarch of The Circus." said the Doctor, pointing up to the woman and grabbing Clara's attention while another flurry of claps and cheers rose up as the ringmaster once again stepped out onto the floor, "And now, it is time for us to present the Pièce de résistance of tonight's proceedings. From the 18th planet of The Great Asafriarnan Rift, I give you the Master and Mistress of the Blade, the great and spirited brother/sister duo, Roufilas & Sanfasi!"

The crowd cheered as two human-like beings, 1 male and 1 female, with white hair, white eyes, blue skin and wearing long and flowing outfits made of colorful rags and long cuttings of cloth stepped out into the ring. Both had leather straps across their chests holding knives of various shapes, sizes and lengths, which told those in the crowd that they were knife throwers of some sort.

The Doctor soon spoke towards Clara, looking on, "My friend Romana tried on a body of one of that species once while she was regenerating. I told her it was to short and to take it off."

"Blimey, was she a Time Lord like you? And how did she manage to try on a body of a species that wasn't even Time Lord?"

"She was a Time Lady and it's a long story, Clara. We're saving that story for another time."

The Doctor and Clara watched as these two alien beings got into position, preparing to throw knives at a target that was not yet seen. A few moments later, a large circular target came floating down from the ceiling, suspended on two chains. It was at this moment that the Doctor noticed someone attached to the front of the spinning target. It was his sister, Auralynn, seemingly barely conscious. Clara suddenly shouted, "Doctor! It's Auralynn! Why is she doing there?"

"I don't know, Clara, but I'm going to save her from those knife throwers in a hurry!"

The sight of Auralynn on the spinning target board also grabbed Anaovlas attention, causing a reaction from him, letting out a panicked roar. Suddenly, the spinning target began to spin as the knife throwers started their show. They pulled out some of their knives and juggled them for a bit before throwing them at the target, each time coming close to hitting Auralynn's shoulders, head and legs. The Doctor quickly ran down the closest set of spiral stairs and jumped the wall surrounding the ground floor.

"Stop the show!" cried the Doctor as Clara followed behind him, "Stop the show now! She's not supposed to be there!" - The Doctor quickly pulled out the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the chains holding up the target, breaking them and causing the target to stop spinning and fall onto the ring with a thud. This sudden disturbance quickly caused the crowd to start panicking a little which quickly grabbed the attention of Mother and her companions.

Mother was now standing up in her private viewing box and looking down at the scene bellow angrily, her hands on the railings surrounding it. Suddenly, a human woman in the crowd of onlookers noticed a Krynoid sitting next to her, whom only moments before, appeared like just another human.

The woman screamed and soon, everyone in the crowd noticed the Krynoids among the crowd encircling around them and started panicking. The Doctor quickly looked up at Mother angrily as she cried out, "Do it, my children! Do it now!"

Suddenly, as the Doctor watched, everyone in the crowd sitting upon the balconies suddenly vanished in a flash of red light along with the Krynoids that had encircled them. Then, silence. The Doctor then quickly looked back at Mother intensely as a wide-eyed expression of awe and fear suddenly fell upon her face. She then pressed a button on a device attached to her right wrist, quickly vanishing with everyone that was in the private viewing box with her.

The Doctor then heard Clara behind her, "Doctor!" - The Doctor then looked over at Clara, who was on her knees next to Auralynn. Anaovlas roared loudly in disagreement, unable to come into the circus tent because of his size. It didn't take Anaovlas long to notice that Arana was also missing, causing him to roar and hiss in disagreement even louder.

The Doctor quickly got on his knees next to Auralynn as the two blue-skinned knife throwers looked on, unsure of what was going on. Soon, Harada, the Ringmaster, Ezarphin, Anarina and several others came up onto the top ring, surrounding the scene. The Doctor quickly got Auralynn out of her bounds and then cradled her in his arms.

He then took his sonic screwdriver and scanned her with it as Clara spoke, "Is she alright, Doctor? How did she get here? I thought she was out looking for Anaovlas." - Anaovlas continued to roar and hiss loudly as the Doctor spoke as he finished his analysis, "She's been drugged, Clara, by a sleeping draft made from a flower native to Krynolis. She doesn't even know where she is right now..." - The Doctor then placed Auralynn in Clara's arms as he stood up and started looking at everyone in the circle around him angrily, "...and one of you know who did it, don't you? Who was it? Who did this to my sister?"

The people in the group surrounding him and Clara looked on, blank-faced and seemingly without emotion. It wasn't until he reached Anarina, who was halfway looking away fearfully, that the Doctor noticed that she wanted to speak. The Doctor continued, "You know what is going on, don't you?"

Anarina looked at the Doctor and spoke, "Yes...I do."

Taelaphis then entered the area out of nowhere and spoke up, "Anarina, don't you tell him anything! If you do, Mother will get angry and then she will feed you to her pet!"

Ezarphin then shouted out angrily, looking at Taelaphis, "Shut up, Taelaphis! He is a Time Lord. He can save us and free us from Mother!"

The Doctor then suddenly got a little bit nervous as he spoke, "No, I really wouldn't say that to him if I were you."

Taelaphis glared angrily at Ezarphin as Ezarphin continued, "Taelaphis is always trying to keep us quiet and keep us from saying anything. It's driving me nuts! But I feel that we should tell you what is going on around here!"

The Doctor was getting mildly nervous again as he continued, "No, really, I wouldn't be doing that right now if I were you. There is a time and a place, and that time and place is not right now."

Taelaphis then walked over to Ezarphin as he glanced over at the Doctor, then looked at Ezarphin and continued, getting into Ezarphin's face,"The Time Lord has more common sense then you do, Ezarphin. At least he knows better then to cross the line at the moment. It's to bad that I am not a Krynoid, cause I might just be angry enough to eat you."

A wide-eyed glare of shock fell upon Ezarphin's face as the Doctor stepped up behind Taelaphis cautiously as he continued, "There is no reason for this right now. There is a time and a place for this, but not right now. Calm down."

"There is indeed, Time Lord," said Taelaphis, "And that time and place is more sooner then you realize. Continue the show without me."

And with that, Taelaphis walked away, vanishing out of sight. Ezarphin glanced away angrily as the Doctor continued, walking up to Ezarphin, "I'm sorry, but you do not realize how close you were to being part of a very dangerous circus act. There is a time and a place. Save it for when it will really matter."

Ezarphin bowed his head as the Doctor looked around, noticing the looks of fear on everyones' faces, "You fear her! Mother, you fear her!" - he then looked back at Anarina,

"Everyone in this circus - you all fear your own Matriarch, why?"

Anarina spoke with a fearful, slightly whimpering voice, first talking to the Doctor, then to Ezarphin, "She is not what she seems, sir. Me and Taelaphis should know, we have seen the real her, that's why he's always telling us not to say anything. Forgive him, Ezarphin, for he knows not what he says sometimes. I've noticed how on edge he has been lately, but I will deal with that later."

"Oh, you really have no idea, I can tell." said the Doctor with a look of intensity in his eyes, "So she's not what she seems you say?"

"No. She looks like a Krynolian female now, yes. But she is actually a Krynoid female, but something new. Different from the others."

"She doesn't look like the others. I should know this because I have seen her real form once myself," said Harada suddenly, "But she is very weak at the moment, so much so that she is forced to make use of some sort of living clay body to store her mind and consciousness in until her own body is repaired."

"Fascinating. Mother is in an arglosamiant flesh body, a living clay body that looks like a Krynolian female. Why has she placed herself in one of those?"

Ezarphin went on as the Doctor began pacing, "From what I've heard her real body was badly injured when she came here during the Seeding so a body of living clay was made for her as temporary storage until her real body was fully healed. She brought with her some sort of strange device that sent some type of orbs to Earth. She said it was something called the Seeding and that she needed to make a new home for her children, who were changing, becoming something new. One of the orbs from that seeding just happened to fall on our circus and ever since then she's been making us entertain her and help her draw in crowds of humans to transform."

The Doctor then looked back at Ezarphin and walked back over to him, "Transform? Into Krynolians?"

Ezarphin paused a moment, then continued, "Yes, sir. But why she is changing humans into Krynolians, I do not know."

The Doctor went on, "The Cloud. The red cloud that is covering over London right now and slowly spreading across the Earth. It's transforming both humans and animals into beings and creatures native to Krynolis. But why, why is she doing that?" - Then suddenly, the Doctor was struck by a realization of something as he turned away a moment, then turned back and looked at Ezarphin, "Wait. Just shut up, shut up, shutity it up up a moment."

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Clara, looking up at him from the floor as the Doctor paused a moment, then continued, "...So that's it. That's what she is doing. She's terraforming the Earth, changing it and everyone living on it! Changing it into another Krynolis, Krynolis mark 2. But there was more then one cluster of orbs involved in making those clouds. The cloud over London is not the only one!"

Clara then looked back down at Auralynn, cradling her. Clara then spoke as Auralynn stirred, "Doctor, she's waking up. What do I do?"

"Good, the drug is wearing off." - The Doctor quickly knelt down as Auralynn began to hold her head and moan a little, shaking her head as if trying to get herself awake. The Doctor continued, "Auralynn, are you alright?"

Auralynn quickly grabbed onto the Doctor and spoke, "I think so. But why does my head feel funny?"

"You we're drugged and placed on a knife throwing target. I think Mother intended on making you a part of her little circus act for her own sinister amusement. But at least I saved you from that before she could hurt you."

Auralynn soon hugged the Doctor, relieved that he had stopped her from getting hurt. The Doctor then helped Auralynn back onto her feet before we walked over to Harada.

He had to look up at her cause of her height and her neck as he spoke to her, "That crystal ball, Harada! Give it!"

"Whatever for?"

"Because you've been a very naughty girl without even realizing it!"

Back in the steampunk TARDIS, the Doctor brought images up on a monitor at the steampunk TARDIS console for Clara and Auralynn to see, "There are smaller clusters of orbs that have been strategically placed at various points on the planet, all ready to explode at any given moment. Each of those orb clusters as all the ingredients needed to change this entire planet inside and out!

But we are at the place where the central control module and the cebtral orb are located, the one that activates and controls the smaller orb clusters and it is where the central control module and the central orb are located that makes up where the heart of the red cloud surrounding and expanding away from London is. And this is only the beginning of a fairly quiet and clever alien invasion."

Auralynn continued, "But the Brigadier and UNIT HQ have been looking for the center of the cloud in London for months, Doctor. But so far we've been unsuccessful."

"Because you can't see the center of the cloud, Auralynn. Think about it a moment. A highly advanced Gallifreyan terraforming device controlled from a central control module and a central orb that is used to kick start the process for the rest of the smaller orb clusters in the chain. If you were of a rapidly changing species steadily becoming more and more intelligent and hell-bent on making a new homeworld for the new race, wouldn't you find a way to hide the central control module and the central orb of the device so that it wouldn't be found and deactivated?"

Auralynn then realized something, "You mean to tell me that the reason why we've yet to find the center of the cloud, it is because...?"

The Doctor suddenly held up the crystal ball, "It's invisible. Hiding in a small pocket dimension a second or two out of sync with the rest of the universe. But the central orb which is helping to keep this pocket dimension running was seemingly damaged upon crashing into the Earth. So Harada, by use of this crystal ball, has been trying to keep the dimension from collapsing into itself and de-stabilizing by feeding energy into the central orb, keeping it from draining out completely."

"But not all the orbs that were brought to the labs were damaged. One of them came to the labs intact."

"That one likely had the primary organic nanobots inside it, keeping it repaired and intact. That is likely the orb that became the central control module since it is the most important part of the device."

"The earthquakes," - said Clara, realizing something, "Doctor, the earthquakes!"

"Exactly, you notice the pattern now, Clara. Whenever the pocket dimension lets off a bit of steam and starts to de-stabilize because of the central orb leaking energy, Harada comes in with this crystal ball and uses a massive flux of dimensional rift energy to re-stabilize it, refills the central orb with new energy, followed by a visit from the mysterious Mother. But this crystal ball belongs to a time stitcher, a member of my own race with the ability to sew up tears and wounds in space/time like a person might sew a tear in a piece of cloth. I have no doubt that this steampunk TARDIS were in also belongs to the one she got this crystal ball from."

"Then where are they, this other Time Lord?" asked Clara, looking on.

"Time Lady, Clara. It's traditional and old fashioned. And no, I don't know where the time stitcher this crystal ball belongs to is, but she has to be close by."

"Why would she be?" asked Clara, going on, "And what makes you think it's a she?"

"Because most time stitchers are Time Ladies and because no Time Lord or Time Lady would just leave their TARDIS behind unless they were kidnapped or taken somewhere. And from where the Brigadier and his men found the steampunk TARDIS, she has to be around here somewhere." - said the Doctor as he took the crystal ball in both hands and squeezed it. The crystal ball quickly reduced in size to the point where it was small enough to fit in his left coat pocket, "I think I'll save this for her when we find her. Now come on, you two. We have work to do."

"But Doctor, how can this TARDIS be in a pocket dimension at the moment? Aren't we breaking some sort of time travel rule or something?"

"No time to explain, Clara. We need to find the central orb of the Terraformator before Mother does something foolish and activates the rest of it. Come on."

And with that, Clara, The Doctor and Auralynn quickly left the steampunk TARDIS and started venturing out beyond the circus tent. Soon, they had reached a line of forest and started wandering into it, viewing a familiar sight of a transformed forest with native Krynolian plants and animals; only the sky was a light stormy gray color. Clara continued, "But you still haven't explained something to me and Auralynn. If we are in a pocket dimension near the center of London, how did Anaovlas get in here?"

"The same way we did, I am assuming. Only someone helped him in here." replied the Doctor as Auralynn spoke, "That lady, the one in the red cloak that was sitting on his back..."

"Yes, I noticed her to, like I just noticed something that you two seemed to have not noticed as we were walking into the forest just now."

Clara looked back behind a moment and spoke, "What was it, Doctor?"

"No time to explain at the moment, Clara. Except for one thing: I think that the woman in the red cloak is someone very familiar to my brother Anaovlas."

"You mean she was Arana? Saralis's sister?" asked Auralynn, keeping close to the Doctor as Clara walked behind her."Yes, she is. But Mother has brainwashed her, she's controlling her like a puppet on strings. She's made her into some sort of servant to do her dirty work for her."

"And how do you know that, brother?"

"I peered into your memories and saw the last thing you saw before she and Mother kidnapped you from your jeep. I am to assume that she has been Mother's servant for quite some time."

"So how are we going to get her away from Mother then?" asked Clara, as she stepped over a large vine on the Doctor went on, "We'll find a way to, for my brother's sake at least." - The Doctor then stopped and pointed, "Look there you two."

Clara and Auralynn soon looked over at the ruins of a building, covered entirely by writhing red vines, Auralynn then spoke with a wide-eyed expression, "Oh good lord that is what's left of the MOEA Scientific Labs! We're very near the center of London!" - The Doctor quickly ran over to the ruins, followed by Auralynn and soon tried to find a way inside, breaking in what was left of a still intact window.

The Doctor then helped Clara and Auralynn inside through the window. The Doctor and the others then walked on as they began to walk down the hall beyond the window, walking over vines sitting across the floors and covering the windows, with only a few narrow beams of light shining through the cracks in the vines.

They began to look around at what remained of the MOEA Scientific Labs as the Doctor continued, "You humans will never learn to leave things well enough alone when they are as dangerous as the Terraformator." - the Doctor kept looking forward as he spoke, not looking at Auralynn as he and her spoke back and forth between Clara and Auralynn, keeping an eye on what was in front of him, "You humans just had to pry open Pandora's box and look in it didn't you?"

"Looking into my thoughts again, brother? I think I'll have to work on stopping that." said Auralynn as the Doctor suddenly then spoke again, "Fantastic, you've just made a mental block on your mind that I am unable to get past. So unfair, Auralynn."

"Well, I wouldn't have to if you'd stop peering into my mind when I didn't ask you to in the first place."

"Is this how you two are like when at home?" asked Clara, watching the interaction between Auralynn and the Doctor."Nevermind our sibling shenanigans, Clara. Auralynn isn't telling me the whole story."

"Well, I willingly would if you'd stop trying to read my mind for a moment."

"Fine. Please, start talking. What are the MOEA Scientific Labs?" said the Doctor, still not looking at either Auralynn or Clara as Auralynn continued, "MOEA Scientific Labs is where the most high tier top secret stuff and alien stuff goes to be experimented on and back engineered. It's like one of Europe's versions of Area 51. Only MOEA doesn't talk to the people at Area 51. They have their own solutions and means of combating something like this."

"So someone higher up the ranks brought the central parts of the Terraformator here to be brought together which make up the central control module and central orb of the device. Why do I think Mother was behind all that?"

"Probably because she was, Doctor. She was probably the 'someone higher up'. So that means she was preparing and purposely bringing all the parts together with a little help from humans to start all of this, yeah?" said Clara, listening and looking on. The Doctor looked at Clara and smirked as Auralynn went on, "Well, they said something about there being liquids and stuff inside them. Liquids they said would allow food crops to grow outside all year round."

"The building blocks of life, Auralynn. Each of the four orbs contained a part of the building blocks of life while the intact orb held the items needed to transform four into one. When they were brought together, they activated and made the central control module and central orb of the Terraformator, the central control module that activates the rest of the orb clusters in the chain. Are humans always trying to find an easy way to stem the growing food shortage problem? Why do humans continue to be such Pudding-Brains?" - The Doctor then looked around a corner and suddenly saw something interesting, "On the other hand there are some Pudding-Brains who actually make things that would be quite useful."

Auralynn and Clara soon saw what the Doctor was seeing as they turned the corner with him. There was an area of the MOEA Scientific Labs that was devoid of any vines, as if something was keeping the vines away from it. Suddenly, Clara, who was standing behind Auralynn, cried out, "Doctor! Help!"

The Doctor turned to look and cried out, "Clara! No!"

The vines that had been on the floor were now wrapping themselves around Clara. The Doctor quickly pulled Auralynn away from the vines so that she would not be grabbed up by them. Auralynn began to shout as the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver once more, trying to free Clara from the vines, "Doctor! We need to get her out of those before something bad happens!"

"The sonic is not working, there must be a fault somewhere!" said the Doctor, hitting the sonic a moment to try and get it to work as Clara yelped out again, "Doctor! Help! They're pulling me back!"

Auralynn, in a panic, suddenly noticed a flask with a strange blue liquid in it on a table nearby. Auralynn quickly grabbed the flask and threw it towards the vines. The flask soon shattered on the floor at Clara's feet, splattering the blue liquid all over Clara and the vines.

There was an instantaneous reaction as a loud shriek was heard and the vines quickly let go of Clara. They could hear the sizzling of the vines burning as they quickly scattered and vanished from the area, leaving Clara free once more.

The Doctor suddenly got excited, "Ouuuuuurrrr, that was some kind of acid you threw at those vines, Auralynn. It's what's keeping the vines out of this laboratory."

Having regained her senses, Clara quickly tried to get the blue liquid off of her, but it didn't seem to affect her like it did the vines. In fact, she felt nothing from the liquid, except that it felt slimy and smelled something terrible.

The

Doctor went on, "Auralynn, we need to save some of that liquid from what's left of the flask you threw. Where's a syringe?"

After a few minutes, the Doctor had a sample of the liquid underneath a microscope and was now looking at it through it, "Fascinating. A nano-organic acid that is dangerous to the vines but not to humans. No, more then that, dangerous to all Krynolian life, even to those who have been transformed into Krynolian life and people. This liquid has the capacity to kill and destroy everything in this cloud, including the cloud itself. Imagine if Mother threatened to use this liquid to suppress the Krynolians, then they'd really be scared of her! Ouuurrrr, it scarcely bares thinking about!"

"You mean, it's like a poison of some kind? But why doesn't it effect me?" asked Clara, looking on.

The Doctor looked away from the microscope a moment and spoke, "You're not a transformed human Clara, nor are you a Krynolian or even a Krynoid for that matter."

"I don't like the idea of this stuff even existing, Doctor. It sounds like it was made to be a weapon of some sort." said Auralynn, sounding concerned.

"It is a weapon, Auralynn. Someone in the labs, possibly one of Mother's many servants who just happens to be a chemist, made an effort to make this stuff in order to use it as a weapon to suppress the Krynolians here, with the ability to kill all Krynolian life on this planet as we know it." - The Doctor then looked at the sample in the microscope again, "But I think, with a slight alternation in the genetic makeup of the liquid, I can turn it into something less of a threat and more of a benefit. Yes, I think I can do that."

"What do you plan to do with that, Doctor?"The Doctor looked away from the sample once more and spoke, "Reverse the damages done."

...CONTINUED CHAPTER 6...


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

"Arrrrrggghhhhh!" - Mother began to kick and scream as she sat upon a bed in what looked like some sort of sleeping quarters, with her servants and advisors nearby looking on. Mother went on, "Another Time Lord?! Here?! On Earth?! Where does he even come from?! I thought the rest of them were dead except for the one we found on our way here!"

"Madame, as far as we know the time stitcher, the one called Auralynn and this new one called the Doctor are the only three left in existence." said the Krynolian male who had been sitting next to Mother in the private viewing box earlier.

"We are being invaded by these wretched Time Lords! We had to deal with them in the Time War, why do we have to deal with them now?!"

"Madame, if I may, I could send our spies out again to watch them like last time. Perhaps they won't reach the center, especially with your pet guarding it. Perhaps he might have eaten them already for all we know."

Mother then stood up and walked over to the Krynolian male, getting up into his face, "My _pet_ would not eat such a sweet meat delicacy as Gallifreyan. He would save such treats for me to enjoy." - Mother then walked back towards the bed as the Krynolian male continued, "We aren't blind, Madame. We know your _pet_ is actually your mate. Though in your current state of affairs he is unable to mate with you."

Mother looked back, "Ha! And why do you think I brought my mate and our children here? So that when the time comes for us to where we can mate again, there will be a new world waiting for us and our children. We are changing, Terbalis! We are becoming a whole new species. The Krynoids are evolving into higher lifeforms and it is I and my mate that will birth the new pure generation, the new pure species of Krynolis! My only goal is to make sure that my species survives to live on, in a new system on a new world."

"But Madame, you do not know if the solar flares from Krynolis's sun will destroy the original Krynolis. You left so quickly with your stolen Gallifreyan device in hand and came here without ever seeing if the sun would destroy your home world or not."

"My old world is dead, Terbalis! Our sun killed it, it know it did! No longer will I see that beautiful red sky or the beautiful and lovely creatures of my original home world that lived upon it, except here on the new world! And you, Terbalis, are the leader of the new and coming servant class! My people will no longer be hunted down by your people like savage beasts like they were on the old world. To be hunted down and eradicated like some invading pest upon Krynolis. We only wish to survive like any other species does. And by rights, my people should kill your whole species and turn you all into food stores of meat for the next generation of my people to feed upon!"

"But Madame!"

"But we won't - We are far to civilized now to stoop to that level. Instead..." - Mother walked back up to the male Krynolian, Terbalis, and placed her hands on his shoulders, "...We have a much more interesting and I must say more _beneficial_ purpose for your people."

Back at the laboratory, Auralynn and Clara watched as the Doctor began to write out the formula for the strange blue liquid, going back and forth between microscope and paper, writing out every detail, "There. Right. We're ready. Clara, hand me that syringe, we might need the rest of this for something later."

Clara quickly handed the syringe the Doctor was pointing at and watched quietly as the Doctor began using the syringe to suck up what was left of the blue liquid that was still being held in an intact piece of the flask it had once been held in. The Doctor then slipped a needle sleeve over the needle of the syringe so that it wouldn't poke him when he placed it in his pocket, hiding it away, "If the pudding-brain scientists back at the Brigadier's camp can't read the formula properly, they may want to test the completed product to figure it out."

The Doctor then walked up to Auralynn, handing her the paper with the formula on it, "Auralynn, I want you to go through the portal back to our own dimension that we passed when we came here and give this to the Brigadier, it's just inside the tree line Southeast of here. But be alert, the vines outside it might try to grab you and consume you so run as fast as you can to avoid them as much as possible."

Auralynn nodded and quickly turned as she began to walk off, but then stopped suddenly and turned back around; looking at the Doctor puzzlingly, "Hold on, I didn't notice any opening or portal while we were coming here."

"Oh really? I thought you noticed. Well, of course you didn't, you were too busy talking and not paying attention. Now get a move on and remember to use that sonic screwdriver of yours if any trouble comes along."

Auralynn was about to turn around again when she spoke once more, "Doctor, what if that woman comes back and gets me? What if the Krynoids get me or you? I don't like leaving you and Clara here…"

"Oh, don't you worry about that, Auralynn. The Krynoids are too busy changing and protecting Mother after our little circus act in the circus tent and Mother is too busy beating herself up for not realizing that her plans have been compromised. Besides, it's unlikely that she knows where either we or you are."

The Doctor suddenly heard a familiar hissing sound coming from somewhere in the hall outside the doorway to the laboratory, "On second thought, what do I know about it? They took over this building after all. They probably wired this building with sensors and movement detectors so that they would know exactly where we are."

"Doctor, Krynoids!" cried Clara, looking back at the Doctor from the entrance to the laboratory.

"Clara! Auralynn! Get away from the door! Come back here next to me!" called out the Doctor, as he took hold of both Auralynn's and Clara's hand to pull them back next to him just when a couple Krynoids were coming through the door. They were regular, normal Krynoids, not yet changed. The trio then heard a hissing sound them, catching sight of at least a dozen cat-like Krynoids surrounding them.

The Doctor then looked back at the door to the laboratory as another figure stepped into the room, pointing some kind of laser pistol towards the trio. It was Terbalis, the Krynolian male that had been with Mother earlier. Terbalis spoke, "Don't move. I suggest that you put up those hands slowly as I am sure that you realize by now that you are surrounded and they won't take kindly to sudden moves I assure you."

The trio slowly put their hands up as Terbalis continued, smirking, "Well, well, aren't we a pair?"

"_We_?" asked the Doctor.

"You and the female to your left: A Time Lord and a Time Lady – two Gallifreyans. Quite a rare pair of specimens you two are. And here we all thought that all of your kind was dead after the Time War."

"You do realize that there is a third person in the room with these two Gallifreyans and that she is going to slap you in a moment?" barked Clara as Terbalis continued, "Doubtful. You are a small, insignificant little human. Humans can't ever hold a candle to the might and majesty of the Gallifreyans and it is wishful thinking for them to believe that they will ever hold a candle to them. Well, at least at the moment you humans can't. Not until you change that is…"

"Don't you dare! Don't you even dare to do that!" barked Auralynn angrily at Terbalis as the Doctor continued, "The Krynolians were only in the Time War for a brief period of time and after the Battle of Grimheart Atrocities, I highly doubt any Krynolians would remember the Time War."

"That's where you're wrong, Time Lord. Some of us Krynolians did manage to survive, thanks to my friends here with me."

"Friends?! From what I've seen so far, they are far from being your friends!"

"Well then, benefactors if you wish to call them that."

"No, not even that. I should know. I was in that circus tent like all the rest of you. I could see what was really going on in there. And since I know the truth about what is really going on, why don't you tell me the whole story instead of putting on yet another little circus act in front of your companions?" said the Doctor, staring intensely at Terbalis. There was then a pause of silence as the two men faced one another and stared intensely at one another, as if waiting for someone to make the next move.

Suddenly, Auralynn quickly put her hands down and ran quickly towards a window on the opposite side of the room that was clear of vines, jumping out and breaking through what remained of the glass and frame holding the glass in it. This gave Terbalis and everyone else little time to react as Auralynn vanished out the window and quickly ran off.

A few of the cat-like Krynoids were about to chase after her until Terbalis called out, "No! Let her go! I highly doubt that she will get far! Besides, we have more important things to worry about! We have the most important of the two Gallifreyans anyway…and his human friend!"

"Really? And what makes you think I'm so important?"

"You're not a fool sir that I can tell. Just like I am not a fool to realize how much you actually know of mine and Mother's plans. But there is really nothing you can do to stop them. In 48 hours, Mother will send out the signal to the rest of the orbs and soon they will explode, creating more of the red clouds needed to transform this world and all the things living upon it into creatures and beings of Krynolis."

"Not if I have anything to do with it!"

Terbalis smirked mischievously, "Well, well. It seems you need a lesson in knowing your place, Time Lord. Well then, I suppose I shall teach it to you by sending you to where you and your human friend truly belong…and it is not here that I can assure you." – Terbalis then gestured with his laser pistol telling the Doctor and Clara to start walking towards the doorway to the left of the laboratory.

Two of the cat-like Krynoids used their heads to push the Doctor and Clara forward into the direction of the doorway and together, they were being herded towards and unknown location.

Elsewhere, Auralynn is running through the forest edge in the Southeast, trying to find the portal or entrance that the Doctor had spoken about. I didn't take her long to catch glimpse of it in the distance in front of her, its edges rippling in the air around it and the slightly blurred vision of the center of London and the red sky beyond it. Short of breath but glad to see the entrance, Auralynn quickly ran towards it, until a familiar shape came bursting out of the brush nearby. It was Anaovlas, who quickly opened his hood and roared loudly at Auralynn, causing her to fall back first onto the ground.

"Anaovlas! What are you doing scaring me like that?! Don't you realize that…?"

"I wouldn't run towards that dimensional rift portal if I were you," said the voice of a woman suddenly, "It's not any old normal dimensional rift portal so I wouldn't be going through it so hastily. Unless of course you want your brother to see you fry."

"What? Who is that? Who's speaking?" said Auralynn, confused and looking around her quickly. Auralynn then noticed a woman on Anaovlas's back as he folded down his hood. It was the Krynolian woman in the red hooded cloak, Arana, Anaovlas's lover.

"You?!" said Auralynn angrily, "What are you doing here?! You're the one that helped Mother capture me and helped her give me that horrible moment in the circus tent! How dare you even be here?!"

"Yes, I know, and I must apologize for that. I didn't mean for it to go that far but Mother has such a hold over me, I could not disobey her. Anaovlas understands why I did what I did as should you my dear." – Arana then quickly got down off Anaovlas's back and walked towards Auralynn, who quickly got up and placed some distance between her and Arana, "I don't trust you."

"As you shouldn't my dear," said Arana, half circling and pacing in front of Auralynn and looking at her like a bird of prey about to pounce at a moment's notice, "I am still under Mother's mental influence. If she even gets an inkling of what I am about to do here, she will most certainly kill me."

"If she is controlling you mentally then why wouldn't she know already?"

"Anaovlas is blocking her with his own mental powers, but it is only temporary. He's only able to block her mental influence upon me for only temporary periods of time. For all she knows, I am doing nothing but helping her gather more humans to transform."

Arana soon stopped pacing in front of Auralynn as Auralynn continued, "Why is she doing this? What would be the purpose of creating more of the native sworn enemy of the Krynoids? Krynolians are all but extinct now, but still The Krynoids are making more of them by changing humans into Krynolians, why? What is the purpose of it?"

Arana glared at Auralynn as she continued, "Yes, it seems rather a stupid and pointless thing to do, isn't it? But I assure you, everything has a purpose to it in Mother's plans, no matter how small and insignificant it might be. But I can assure you that it is a rather long and complicated affair, one that I am sure two of your friends are about to learn more about."

The Doctor and Clara are soon escorted to the entrance of what looks like a cave entrance further in the forest. All around them, Krynoids both of recognizable form and of the cat-like form loomed around the Doctor and Clara.

"In!" said Terbalis, bringing up his laser pistol again and pointing it at the Doctor and Clara.

"Why should we?" said the Doctor, turning around to face Terbalis, "You know that we are never going to cooperate with you and your so-called Krynoid overlord friends. So why don't you just use that gun on us now and get it over with?"

Terbalis brought down his laser gun and got further into the Doctor's face, "Because, Time Lord, we need you alive to finish what we started. In, now, or your female friend with you gets it."

"How from your little laser gun? I highly doubt it would hurt her all that much when it's not even at half charge." said the Doctor arrogantly.

"True," replied Terbalis, smiling mischievously, "But that doesn't mean that the Krynoid that currently has his tentacles wrapped around her can't."

The Doctor quickly turned around to look at Clara as Terbalis glanced towards her. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, a Krynoid had wrapped his arms around Clara's mouth, muffling her, and her body thus making her unable to move or run away. It had pulled up one of her shirt sleeves, exposing her wrist and a tentacle with a sharp pointed end on it aimed at her wrist posed and ready to strike. The Doctor could tell that Clara was truly and properly frightened, something that rarely happened with Clara.

Terbalis continued as the Doctor angrily looked back at him, "If memory serves me correctly, there is more than one way to skin a cat as there is more than one way to produce Krynoids. Krynoid venom has both the ability to kill as well as transform another living being into a Krynoid, slowly changing and consuming their bodies until there is nothing left but a Krynoid. And if you don't cooperate, Doctor, you will find another member of the Krynoid species added to the already growing populace that exists already on this planet. Now which do you prefer, abidance or watching the slow and agonizing end to your friend?"

The Doctor, saying nothing, narrowed his eyes and looked angrily at Terbalis as he turned and walked up to the cave entrance. Terbalis than looked over at the Krynoid holding Clara and shook his head, telling the Krynoid to let go of Clara. Now released from the Krynoid holding her, Clara quickly ran up to the Doctor's waiting arm as he spoke, passing a glance between Clara and the Krynoid that had a hold of her, "Are you alright? I'm sorry, Clara, I didn't know it had a hold of you."

Clara quickly grabbed onto the Doctor, placing her head on his shoulder as she spoke, "Doctor, after this, if we get out of this, can we go someplace quiet and safe, shut away from the universe for a while?"

"Of course, Clara. I know the perfect place where we can go to unwind a bit and get away from all of this. Don't you worry so."

"Enough talk you two!" said Terbalis, pointing his laser gun at The Doctor and Clara again, "In, both of you. Now."

The Doctor and Clara looked at one another a moment, realizing that they had little say in what was to happen next. They then turned towards the cave entrance and began to walk into it as the Krynoids behind them began to bunch up at the entrance of the cave as Terbalis brought down his laser gun and looked on, saying nothing as the Krynoids around him made growling and hissing noises. And as the Doctor and Clara vanished into the cave, they watched as the Krynoids outside the entrance between too swarm over the entrance of the cave, forming a wall or blockage over the entrance which cut off any light or chance of escape to the outside.

"What are they doing, Doctor?" asked Clara, "It looks like they are walling us in."

"They are. They are building a wall with their bodies, climbing over one another, between us and the outside world, keeping us inside the cave. I highly doubt that we will be going back that way anytime soon."

Then, as the last rays of light from the outside world are snuffed out by the bodies of the Krynoids blocking the entrance, a different kind of light began to shine. Like most life of Krynolis, there were creatures inside the cave that produced bioluminescence, glowing various colors of light in a range of blues, greens and yellows, which filled up sections of the cave. The cave itself had opened up into a vast chamber, which looked like it had been dug out by some strange artificial means, smooth and rounded walls covered in glowing mosses, likens and strange alien flowers covering various parts of the cave walls. It was a large, damp space, but it didn't feel cold or unpleasant. Upon the walls of the chamber, along with all the plant life covering them, there was large exposed areas of the walls covered in writing that the Doctor recognized, which was mostly made up of dots, s-shapes, ovals and lines.

"Where are we?" asked Clara, looking at all the writing on the walls around her.

"It looks like some sort of a chamber, holding quarters of some kind. But it feels rather strange; it feels like there is heat being pumped into the chamber from somewhere. There is Ancient Krynolian Sandscript all over these walls for some reason."

"So do you know what it's all saying then?"

The Doctor continued to look around the chamber as he continued, "A little bit, yes. It's telling the history of how the Krynolians and the Krynoids were all once one race, one people. Then some of them began to change, change into Krynoids and became a whole new species. The original Krynoids were once Krynolians, mutated by some sort of an alien plant virus from space, turned into the carnivorous animals that became the Krynoids. But now it seems that the Krynoids are evolving again, evolving into something new."

"But what are they changing into, Doctor? Are they becoming something better or something even worse than they are now?"

"I don't know, Clara. But something is making them do this. Some sort of an influence of some kind, prompting them to evolve faster than they should be doing."

"What do you think it is then? Some sort of an invisible energy? Something nuclear maybe? I heard that exposure to nuclear energy can cause some strange mutations and so on."

Something near the ceiling of the cave suddenly caught the Doctor's eye as he continued, wide-eyed, "I don't think their evolution is being influenced by nuclear exposure, Clara. I think their evolution is being influenced by something far more dangerous."

Clara looked up towards the ceiling, which was just as covered with bioluminescence as the walls were. But this was not what the Doctor nor Clara was looking at. Up near the ceiling of the cave, suspended in a hanging mesh of vines was a large orb, filled with a shining blue light. Within the orb, the Doctor could see swirls of grayish clouds, much like what he saw in the crystal ball that was used by Harada earlier. The Doctor continued, "Remember how Harada used the crystal ball I took from her to pull space/time energy right out of the vortex to stabilize the pocket dimension we are in now, Clara?"

"Yes, I remember but what about it then?"

"It seems that a side effect of that has produced something even more exotic, and rarer. An energy that causes the rapid formation and evolution of any life exposed to its light. The same energy that I may add caused the formation and rapid evolution of my people through the eons. Only this is a smaller batch of that energy - but contained."

"What do you mean it's the same energy that caused your people to rapidly evolve?"

The Doctor pointed up at the orb as he continued, "_That_ energy, Clara, should no longer exist. But it seems that Harada's meddling has caused a larger batch of the energy to form. It is time energy, Clara, but it is a very special kind of time energy that has life prompting and life influencing qualities. It is the same life influencing energy that was formed right after the Big Bang occurred and in truth, the same source of this energy that my people called the Temporal Rut and the energy source of the Big Bang are both one in the same. It is the God Energy, Clara, the very light and essence of creation itself and being this close to that kind of energy causes the rapid creation and evolution of any and all life in the universe. But how did the Krynoids become exposed to it? My people only became exposed to it when the ancestors of my people had opened holes in the fabric of space/time through the use of primitive versions of the untampered schism."

"Perhaps they learned how to open holes in space/time to, Doctor?" asked Clara, looking on.

"Impossible. It would take someone with the ability to open holes in the fabric of space/time, like a Time Lord or something made by the Time Lords that carried a particle of the God Energy within it..." - The Doctor was suddenly struck with a thought as his eyes suddenly widened and he turned around to face Clara, "That's it, Clara!"

"What's it, Doctor?"

"The Terraformator, Clara! The Terraformator. Harada wasn't just using the crystal ball to stabilize the pocket dimension we are now in; she was adding fuel to the fire, building it up larger and larger over time. _This place_, Clara, is the heart of the Terraformator."

"What?! How?!"

"The Terraformator is an ancient device of my people, Clara. So ancient in fact that it existed during a time when the energies of the Temporal Rut were still in existence. Now, say that Rassilon or some other legendary Time Lord scientist of Gallifrey managed to harness some of the energies of the slowly disappearing Temporal Rut and then placed that energy within a device of some kind that was purposely built with the ability to create and transform life as well as produce a place for that life to live on.

"Now, say that someone stole this device from the Time Vaults on Gallifrey in order to use it as some sort of weapon to win the Time War. But you remember, an alien would not be able to enter the Time Vaults safely without being vaporized by the Time Vault's security protocols. Now say that the person who stole this device wanted to test it on a few lone subjects, perhaps on a couple Krynoids that they had caught in a trap or something, just to see what it would do or what would happen to them. They would first have to open up the device and then expose these test subjects to the energies within the device itself, namely the remnant energy of the Temporal Rut that was held within the Terraformator, which has now grown much larger than before because of Harada and is currently being held in the orb above our heads!"

"So whoever stole the device in the first place exposed some Krynoids to the energy and it's now causing them to suddenly change? But who could have done that, Doctor?"

"I'm having a scary thought, Clara. At first, I thought that Mother who might have stolen the device from the Time Vaults on Gallifrey in some way. But an alien wouldn't have been given the chance to run away with the spoils before the security protocols of the Time Vaults would kick in to stop them. It had to have been a Gallifreyan, out of desperation and with access to a special lock code in order to enter the Time Vaults safely to remove the Terraformator from its holding place. Every desperate act has a cascading effect, Clara, like the ripples on the water when a stone is thrown into it. And I can think of only one man who would have been close enough to Krynoids in order to test the device on them and thus kick start this whole rapid evolution of the Krynoids."

"No, Doctor..." said Clara, suddenly realizing what the Doctor was driving at, "...not Anaovlas."

"Yes, Clara. My own brother, Anaovlas. He stole the device from the Time Vaults in order to try and save Krynolis and Arana's people in the Time War and in turn Mother stole the device from him and brought it to Earth, where it is now rapidly changing everyone and everything it touches."

Clara continued as she ran past the Doctor and stood herself underneath where the orb above was before turning around to face the Doctor, "Well, what are we going to do then? If whatever is in this orb above us is the power source of the device, shouldn't we be trying to figure out how to shut it down?"

"Yes," said the Doctor, walking up to Clara and taking her hand, "We should be doing that; we should be doing that right now, not chatting! Come on, let's see if we can't find the central switch and shut it down."

But just as they were about to run over to where the central switch possibly was, the ground underneath their feet suddenly vanished in a flash and soon, they were screaming, falling down a long shaft, falling far, as if they were going to fall straight to the center of the Earth.

"Doctor, what happened?! We're falling!"

"The ground underneath our feet must have been some kind of a hologram. We weren't standing on real ground at all. Clara, keep hold of me because we're about to experience a dimensional gate shift!"

"A dimensional what?!"

"Look down, Clara!" said the Doctor as Clara looked down, where a bright blue light was seen. The Doctor continued, "_That_ light underneath us leads to the other side of the pocket dimension were in. Every pocket dimension has two parts to it that make it a whole. We're going to the other side, hold on!"

And with that, the Doctor and Clara continued to yell as they continued to fall down the shaft to the light bellow them.

**...CONTINUED CHAPTER 7...  
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	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Suddenly, as quickly as the light had consumed them, it quickly dissipated, revealing the Doctor and Clara lying on the ground with their eyes closed, lying next to one another. Nearby on a rock, there was an old trumpet gramophone record player playing 'Look At Me' by John Lennon. At first, as Clara and the Doctor came to, everything looked like it was in a haze. But as they opened their eyes and sat up to get their bearings, it became too clear to them that they were now in a different place.

All around them they could see smooth, gray pillars with windows in them as well as tall towers of metal and glass. It appeared as though they were lying in a large open space, like a park or green area of some kind, with tall towers and pillars all around them. The sun, or at least what appeared to be the sun, was shining brightly down upon them, held within a blue sky, or at least what appeared to be a blue sky.

The Doctor was the first to speak as he looked all around him, "Clara, we're not in Kansas anymore."

"What is this place? It looks like a city…" asked Clara, walking over to look at the old trumpet gramophone record player playing, lightly touching it before turning around and focusing back on the Doctor, "That has a thing for Lennon music."

The Doctor continued, eyes shifting, appearing a little anxious and nervous for some reason, "A gray city. A city made of towers. Sort of reminds me of Citadel City back home on Gallifrey. But this is not Gallifrey. This is somewhere…and nowhere…"

"If this is a city, where is everyone? I would think there would be people here if it were a city."

"It's all wrong," said the Doctor, standing up and brushing himself off.

"What is?" said Clara, standing up next to him.

"This place, this pocket dimension, Clara – not everything is as it seems here."

"It looks pretty normal to me, Doctor. It's just a city, a city made of towers."

The Doctor's eyes kept shifting and looking around as he continued, "Does everything appear right side up to you, Clara?"

"Yes, of course it does. Everything looks fine and normal. What makes you say that?"

"Because it isn't right side up, Clara. Look up." said the Doctor, looking over at Clara as he looked up at the sky above.

As Clara looked up, she soon noticed that they and the entire city were upside down. The blue sky and the sun were being projected on a massive round holographic screen. She could see through it, just barely, to notice that they were in a massive round chamber of rock whose smooth walls were covered with the same Krynolian writing they had seen earlier.

The Doctor continued, "We're trapped in a city of towers, inside of a massive holographic projecting sphere, inside of an even more massive carved out chamber of stone, upside down on the underside of a pocket dimension. No, things are not right here."

The music from the record player soon stopped. Then the Doctor and Clara noticed a change of scenery unfolding around them. Day was now turning into night and lights were starting to come on all around them. The Doctor then turned and looked at Clara and continued, "Come on. Let's see if we can't find anyone down here."

"What, just like that? You don't want to explore or anything?"

"We are exploring, Clara. Come on."

And with that, the Doctor took Clara's hand and together they began to walk down a pathway leading into the heart of the city, unaware that they were being watched by someone nearby.

Further into the city, the Doctor and Clara come upon a long row of little shops on either side. There was a bakery, a clockmaker's shop, a blacksmith's shop, a candy store, a jewelry store, a pastry shop, a pub, a wine shop, an inn, a butcher shop and a variety of other shops that featured items, foods, drinks, clothing and other things of interest from all over the known universe.

The Doctor quickly ran up to the large window of the pastry shop and looked in as he spoke, "This place is starting to look more and more like Citadel City on Gallifrey. But it can't be Citadel City."

"Was Citadel City this bleak and empty, Doctor?" asked Clara, looking around.

"Far from it, Clara, Citadel City was the Capital City of Gallifrey, the main seat of power for the Gallifreyan people and The High Council. It was always busy and moving about with all manner of Gallifreyans and native animals. The goods traders would transport their goods on the backs of Ribbon-Cutters."

"Ribbon-Cutters?"

"Gallifreyan Colored Ridgebacks, Clara," said the Doctor as he began to walk down the right side of the row of shops, looking through the windows of each one as he went on, "They were large, native beasts of burden that looked like something crossed between an elephant, a fox and a giraffe. Brown in color, with smooth, soft fur like that of kangaroo fur and spotted on the back with a rough ridge of brightly colored hair going down the middle of their backs to the base of their tails. And I do mean _tails_, each one had two long tails like that of a fox, the neck of a giraffe and a trunk like an elephant and two pairs of eyes, one pair smaller than the other. Of course they weren't the only beasts of burden that were used on Gallifrey."

"Yeah, maybe a story for another time, Doctor. We need to find where everyone else is. Do you know where they are, Doctor?"

"They're here," said the Doctor as he peered into the window of the last shop on the block. He then took out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the doorknob to the shop, unlocking it, then walked in, followed closely by Clara.

Inside the shop, which appeared to be a curios shop of some kind, there was a row of lighted pods which looked large enough to house and store the bodies of sleeping people.

"Doctor, what are these?"

"They are pods, Clara; they're sleeping pods of some kind. I wonder who or what is in them."

The Doctor then walked up to one of the pods at the end of row and looked in, "That's the butcher." – Then looked into the one next to it – "That's the clockmaker." – And then the next – "And that's the baker…and they all appear to be Krynolians. Clara, these are the owners of the shops in this row. But why are they in pods? Why are they sleeping?"

"Perhaps it's suspended animation of some kind, yeah? I've seen something like it before on the tele. At least that's what it looks like to me."

"That's because that's what it is, Clara. These people are being forcibly kept in a suspended state, between dreaming and wakefulness. All I need to do in order to wake them is to…"

Suddenly, the Doctor and Clara heard some voices calling for them outside, prompting them to look at one another before stepping back out into the street again. Outside, waiting for them, was Saralis and the three Krynolians they met at the circus, Taelaphis, Anarina and Ezarphin.

"Oh, there you two are," said Saralis, smiling at them, "We were wondering where you went off to. Terbalis said that you two landed in the courtyard. We sort of gathered that you would start exploring."

"Nice to see you again to. How are you here? You should be with the Brigadier right now."

"Well I was, until some Krynoids caught me. Terbalis, like you two, tossed me down as punishment, here along with the Dreadsome Threesome here."

"Oye, no fair!" said Taelaphis in protest, "We came down here with you to help, as did my beautiful and most lovely Anarina here."

"Flirting with me in the mists of danger, that's so you my handsome husband." said Anarina, standing next to Taelaphis.

"Hold on, you two are husband and wife?" asked Clara, pointing at them, "I thought you two were brother and sister."

"Now what made you think that, Clara my dear? It is me and Ezarphin who are brother and sister."

"Just shut up, shutity up up a moment," said the Doctor, who was somewhat irritated, "We don't have time for this endless parade of chatter. We have an invasion on our hands and a device that I might add that is about to activate and change the entire course of human history as we know it. We need to stop it before it's too late."

"The Doctor is right you two. There's no time for explanations, no time for talk." said Ezarphin, appearing from behind Saralis. "We need to go and talk to Sutiraena. I found out where she was being held and woke her up. She's there now waiting for us with Daenaphin." – Ezarphin then looked over at Saralis – "You know we didn't need to come down here to help you find Arana, Saralis. Be thankful that Terbalis is on our side and wanting us to help put an end to all this – a nightmare that must be stopped. Come on everyone, this way."

Soon, everyone was following Ezarphin as Clara spoke, "Hold on, Doctor, wasn't Terbalis the one that…"

"No time to explain, Clara. Come on, let's catch up with them." said the Doctor, taking Clara's hand and running after the others with her.

As Clara and the Doctor were catching up with the rest of the group, Clara suddenly remembered the old trumpet gramophone record player in the courtyard, but as they passed the courtyard, Clara noticed that it had vanished.

"Doctor, the record player, it's vanished."

"What record player, Clara?"

"Doctor?"

"No time, Clara. Come on."

Saying nothing more about the record player, Clara and the Doctor quickly caught up with Saralis and the others, who were now standing at the entrance to another road and another row of shops.

"Everyone keep close and keep quiet. This area is being guarded by Garahidroids."

"Garahidroids, here?" asked the Doctor, "Now how did Garahidroids get here?"

"Doctor, what are Garahidroids?"

"They're robots, Clara. Half-animal clockwork droids, actually, with their real brains replaced with robotic electronic brains. They are deadly killing machines, spherical shaped with one camera shutter-like eye, covered in sensors and with long flashy tentacles that house paralyzing sleeping darts for weapons."

Ezarphin went on, "They're really quick to and they fly by use of anti-gravity. They put you to sleep first before they kill you, so be careful. Once they hit you with their darts, you'll fall fast asleep and will remain asleep for hours if they don't kill you. And take note that they throw those darts _from_ their tentacles."

"How did they get here then?" asked Clara, looking on.

Ezarphin continued, "Like the rest of us did, Clara, through the dimensional gate. Only they've been here a lot longer than we have. Mother gathered them up and programed them to guard Sutiraena, to make sure no one could get to her, not even us. I delayed their patrol of this section prior to meeting up with you lot by temporally scrambling their tiny robotic brains with a mock set of protocols. They've been having a brainstorm with one another since we've got here. I had to get to Sutiraena you see and wake her up so that she could help us. But now they've returned to their original protocols so they will be here soon. Keep close and keep an eye out."

Clara then noticed a strange look on the Doctor's face, "Doctor, what is it?"

"The name, Sutiraena, it sounds so familiar..."

"Why, is it someone you know, Doctor?" asked Clara, looking on.

"Not just that, Clara. Sutiraena was the name of my great-great aunt, and she was a time stitcher."

"No time for that now," said Ezarphin, "We need to get to the other end of the road before we can reach Sutiraena. This way."

And with that, Ezarphin lead the way down the road, followed by The Doctor and Clara, then Saralis, then Anarina and Taelaphis. They were nearly to the other end of the road when Anarina suddenly looked up and called out, "Garahidroid! Watch out!"

Everyone quickly ducked for cover as the Garahidroid began to violently move its tentacles, making a strange clicking sound as it moved. Darts began flying everywhere. In a flash, the Garahidroid then vertically dropped from the air and hovered a few feet off the ground. You could hear the gears of the clockwork turning within the spherical body of the Garahidroid as it adjusted its camera shutter-like eye in order to see in the dark better. Its sensors and tentacles quickly lit up as it began to fly forward, swiveling the top part of its body so that it could see all 360 degrees around it.

Clara and the Doctor were hidden in a nook inside one of the towers around the corner, while Ezarphin and the others took up hidden and strategic places to try and figure out a way around the Garahidroid. Suddenly, the Garahidroid stopped and sharply swiveled the upper part of its body to look towards an area out of view of the group. Then in a flash, a pulse of red light suddenly flashed, rippling across the ground in multiple waves. As each pulse hit the Garahidroid, it caused flashes of sparks to dance around and upon its body, then it fell quickly to the ground, its tentacles splayed out across the ground.

The Doctor, Clara and the others then stepped out of their hiding places, wondering where the light had come from. The Doctor then spoke, "Ouuurrrr, an EMP pulse! Just the thing we needed to knock out the electronic brain of a Garahidroid."

"But where did it come from, Doctor?" asked Ezarphin, gazing at the sky overhead for more signs of Garahidroids nearby, "No one is allowed to have weapons of any kind down here, including objects that can emit an EMP pulse."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and raised it up a moment, gesturing with it before bringing it down again, "Then why do I still have this then?"

"Terbalis must have assumed you didn't have any weapons on you. Or he let you keep it. The rest of us don't have weapons, they were taken from us before coming down here."

"Then where did the EMP pulse come from then? I mean it must have come from somewhere." asked Clara, looking on at the Doctor and Ezarphin as the others with them began to wander out onto the road and look around.

The Doctor then suddenly began to smile as he looked over towards the far end of the road, "Yes, Clara. It did come from someone and it seems that she didn't our help after all."

Soon, everyone was looking towards the direction where the Doctor was looking. There, standing at the far end of the road, wearing a long, blue, elegant gothic medieval-style open sleeve dress, a long hooded blue medieval-style robe, a blue pin cushion hat with a broad rim with long blue and bright silver pins stuck in it, and a bright silver trinket necklace with an old bright silver pocket watch on it, was Sutiraena. She was wearing some sort of brown leather steampunk-style wristband on her left wrist, which had clockwork gears and silver buttons on it.

"I thought I sensed another Time Lord over here. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever see another one of my kind again." said Sutiraena as she hid her wristband away inside her dress sleeve and calmly approached, "Hello Euotis, my dear boy, or shall I say the Doctor? You're looking rather well. I hope that Terbalis and his Krynoid cronies weren't too hard on you and your human friend when he sent you down here. Mother has had us locked down here for months but soon everyone will awake and take their proper places as Mother claims we will. Have you seen my TARDIS?"

"We came here in it," said the Doctor as he pulled out the crystal ball from his pocket, "I sort of gathered that the steampunk TARDIS that the Brigadier and his men found was yours, as is this crystal ball - The tool of your trade." - The Doctor handed the crystal ball to Sutiraena, which she then hid away in one of her sleeves as she continued, "Oh, I nearly forgotten about my crystal ball. Mother stole it from me along with my TARDIS when she and her children came here. It was only visiting Earth for a day and stayed for 3 months. Now, where's a hug from my great-great nephew?" - Sutiraena quickly embraced the Doctor as he slowly brought his arms up, unsure of what to do, "You know, I'm really not much of a hugging sort now, but I am glad to see you again to."

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't get a vote." said Sutiraena with a smile, placing her head on the Doctor's right shoulder, still hugging him.

"That's strange, Clara has said that to me to." said the Doctor, looking over at Clara, who was smiling on mischievously. Sutiraena then let go of the Doctor and began fingering through her sleeves, "Now then, where is that sonic screwdriver of mine? I know I still have it somewhere, Mother didn't take it from me."

"You'd think that would be the first thing that Mother would take from you since it is a weapon." said Taelaphis, standing next to Anarina and Saralis, looking on. Soon, everyone was standing in a circle, chattering amongst one another, trying to sort out their next course of action.

"But she didn't take it from you. Why not?" asked Anarina.

"Because technically they aren't weapons, even though we treat them as such." said the Doctor, gesturing with his sonic screwdriver again.

"I came down here to find my sister Arana, not chatter on about bloody sonic screwdrivers!" barked Saralis, then continued, "Sutiraena, have you seen Arana anywhere down here? I thought you might know since you were one of the first to come down here."

"Oh her? Well she's not been down here in a long time. Not ever since Mother took over her mind and made her into one of her personal mind controlled puppets...unfortunately." said Sutiraena, looking on as she found her sonic screwdriver and began fiddling with it.

"I could have told you that, Saralis, if you had asked me since I saw her back at the circus tent with these three!" said the Doctor, pointing at Ezarphin, Taelaphis and Anarina, "Oh, don't worry, she's very much alive. But for how much longer I do not know if we don't stop Mother pretty soon."

Ezarphin continued, "Listen, the lot of you. There is only one thing we should be doing right now is finding Mother's sleeping chamber, it's down here somewhere and we need to find it!"

"And how do you know it's down here?" asked the Doctor, looking over at Ezarphin while putting away his sonic screwdriver again.

"Well, Harada told me that when she saw Mother's true form, she was brought down here, in the Slave City."

"What do you mean, Slave City?" asked Clara.

"The reason why the Krynolians are still even in existence, Clara." continued Sutiraena, "Mother plans to make the Krynolians the servants of the new Krynoid race. A secondary class of superior servants. Krynolians are far superior slaves then humans could ever be so Mother is taking full advantage of the Terraformator to change every single human being on Earth into a subservient and superior slave race. Terbalis was chosen by Mother to be the leader of the new Knynolian slave race and he was all up for it, but he's had a change of hearts since then."

"Hearts?" asked Clara.

"Yes Clara, hearts. Krynolians have two hearts like Gallifreyans do, but unlike them we have only two arms. Anyway, while the new Krynoid race takes up residence in the dimension above where Earth is, the new Krynolian slaves take up the dimension down here inside the Slave City, on the underside of an unstable pocket dimension, with Garahidroids guarding the dimensional gate to make sure no one escapes when they are all awoken - like Cerberus guarding the gates of Hell." said Sutiraena as Ezarphin continued, shocked by what he and the others had heard, "Mother is mad! Completely daft off of her rocker if she thinks we are all just going to lie down and become slaves to her precious children!"

"What are going to do about it then?" asked Clara.

"We need to stop her before it's too late, Clara. We need to find her sleeping chambers and confront her head on. But it's going to hard though with all the Krynoid soldiers swarming around her 24/7!" said Ezarphin, looking on.

"Are you sure Harada said that Mother's Sleeping Chamber was down here?" asked the Doctor, looking at Ezarphin.

"Yes, she said for certain that it was, near the heart of the Slave City. It's the same as with the Terraformator itself. If you want to hide something important and dangerous, hide it in a pocket dimension a second or two out of sync with the rest of the universe."

"So her sleeping chamber might be hidden in another dimension entirely?" asked the Doctor, "A pocket dimension within a pocket dimension, possibly traps and things to stop us along the way to its heart."

Saralis continued, "Never the less, we need to find it and stop her. I want to stop her and get my sister back!"

"What do we have to do then, Sutiraena?" asked Anarina, looking at Sutiraena as she rose up her sonic screwdriver, "We need to find a hidden window cluster! Trace it with a sonic screwdriver! The entrance to Mother's chamber would be in the form of a window cluster so we can trace it down with a sonic screwdriver."

And with that, the group began searching for the entrance to Mother's sleeping chamber, with Sutiraena and the Doctor leading the way with their sonic screwdrivers held out in front of them. They were walking past towers, shops and going down through a vast maze of roads and passages, trying to reach the heart of the Slave City. The Doctor continued, talking to Sutiraena, "Did you know that it was Anaovlas who started all of this in the first place, Sutiraena?"

"Yes, I do unfortunately. But I am just as much to blame for it happening as he is, my boy."

"I sort of gathered that. After you and Anaovlas stole the Terraformator, you were both planning on taking it someplace where it would make a new world for both the Gallifreyans and the Krynolians to live on, just in case both Gallifrey and Krynolis would perish in the Time War or through some other sort of disaster."

"The Battle of Grimheart Atrocities was long and dire, my boy. Both Krynolians and Gallifreyans were dying in the battle. And we Gallifreyans felt responsible for the bloodshed and torment of that battle, especially Anaovlas with his mate being Krynolian and all that."

"Arana, Saralis's younger sister. How did my brother ever get involved with her in the first place?"

"I don't know really. I wasn't around when he got involved with her so I don't know. But Anaovlas was so keen on ensuring that both our people and Arana's people had someplace to go after all was said and done. Even if either planet was destroyed, there would always be a chance for both parties to survive and co-exist together. But who knows what we would have become of us if we had taken that route. And then there was Krynolis's sun about to send a solar flare to Krynolis. We weren't sure if the planet and the people on it would survive."

"Then planet would have survived, with or without an intervention since it wasn't as bad of a solar flare as many thought...So you and him formed a little team together and plotted to steal the Terraformator but left the Moment well enough alone."

"It wasn't the Moment we were after, my boy. Though it was rather tempting since are needs had become so dire. But the Moment it seems was left for someone else to steal."

"Yes..._me_. And with you being among The High Council of Gallifrey, you had access to all the special lock codes needed to unlock and open the Time Vaults so that you and Anaovlas could get past the security protocols safely. But when you and Anaovlas brought the Terraformator to Krynolis, everything changed. Anaovlas messed about, started the Krynoids evolving and here we are."

"You mustn't entirely blame Anaovlas, my boy. I was just as much for his plans as he was. I wanted Anaovlas to be happy. Just like I've always wanted you to be happy even after you were sent to The Time Lord Academy."

The Doctor then stopped and looked at Sutiraena as he continued, softly smiling, "You know, apart from my cousin Innocet and my Auntie Salpash, you were the only other one of my family that truly worried allot about me while I was growing up and how I felt when I went to the Academy."

Sutiraena smiled as she continued, "You're very welcome. But don't sell the rest of us short, my boy. We all worried about you. Your siblings, your parents, your friends. I suppose with being from such a large and important Gallifreyan aristocratic family it does sort of lessen the worry for some, which of course ends up causing some to be worried less about then others. But we all worried about you in our own ways."

"Though not as much as either you, Innocet and Salpash I'd wager."

"I suppose so. Salpash was fond of you and Innocet adored you. Innocet saw you as more of a younger brother then a younger cousin as well as an invaluable source of advice whenever she'd gotten into trouble. Imagine an older child and next in line as Housekeeper of the Family House going to a younger child of the family for advice, it was just mad."

"I know right? Surely the world must have been a bit daft back then but I suppose I was a good advice giver even then." said the Doctor, smiling as Sutiraena continued, smiling softly, "Indeed, my boy. But you and Innocet were always playing together, in the fields of red grass overlooking the mountain side of Mount Lung and Mount Cadon. And they were always there to defend you whenever you got into trouble, Innocet and Salpash. And of course your Gallifreyan hermit friend who lived up at the top of Mount Lung and came down to the house whenever he wanted to talk to you and say hello, he worried about you to."

The Doctor softly laughed as he continued, "He was my tutor outside of the Academy and I cared a great deal about him as a best mate. If anyone is to be credited for being an invaluable source of knowledge and wisdom, it would be him - my Gallifreyan hermit friend. He showed me the Meaning of Life and Beauty, in the form of a Gallifreyan Daisy. He taught me about more things outside the Academy than anyone else inside the Academy ever did. Full of street savvy knowledge he was and he never really had much of a family left after his older brother died not long after I left the Academy so he was pretty much alone in all things considered."

"But the family always thought he was mad so we didn't much care for you being involved with him. But nothing would ever keep you away from him."

"Oh, definitely true that. But he really wasn't mad though and you wouldn't have thought so if you knew him like I did. A colorful Gallifreyan? True. Misunderstood? Definitely true."

Saralis then butted in, "Excuse me, are we done talking now because I really want to find my sister before something bad happens to her."

The Doctor and Sutiraena was then called back to the here and now as the Doctor continued, "Sorry, sorry. Yes, we should really be..."

"Yes, definitely we should..." said Sutiraena as she began to walk ahead.

"Yes, will talk more about this stuff later. Let's go."

And with that, the Doctor and Sutiraena continued to aim their sonic screwdrivers in front of them in search of the entrance to Mother's chamber. After a few minutes scanning for the entrance to Mother's chamber, the Doctor and Sutiraena suddenly sensed something.

"Do you feel that, my boy?" asked Sutiraena, bringing her hands up in front of her.

"Yes I do and frankly anyone who is as time sensitive as we Gallifreyans are would feel it to." said the Doctor, raising his hands up in front of him as well.

"What is going on then?" asked Clara as she and the others looked on.

"We're getting close to the Mother's chamber," said the Doctor, "I can feel great bubbles of time energy hanging about in the air."

"There is a window cluster nearby somewhere." added Sutiraena as she pointed her sonic screwdriver towards an entrance to a road on the left of her.

"Well we don't see or feel anything!" said Anarina, looking around the side of Taelaphis.

"Anarina is right," said Taelaphis, "We don't see or feel a thing. What are you two picking up on?"

"We are not Gallifreyans, Taelaphis," said Ezarphin, "We are not time sensitive like Gallifreyans are thus they will feel and see certain things that regular beings can't."

"Well I know I'm getting tired of all this stopping and chattering we are doing. I'm worried about my sister!" said Saralis, looking around over his head for any signs of Garahidroids nearby, "And if we are getting close to Mother's sleeping chamber, there is bound to be Garahidroids about!"

"Quite so. We need to be on our guard from here on out." said Ezarphin, walking past Sutiraena and the Doctor, who are still scanning with their sonic screwdrivers as Ezarphin continued, "Let's get a move on everyone. Sutiraena and the Doctor will lead the way."

Soon, the group was on the move again, this time going down through the entrance of the long cobblestone road that Sutiraena had aimed her sonic screwdriver at earlier. After a couple minutes more, they found themselves standing in a large round courtyard of cobblestone. Though the courtyard was empty and devoid of any and all people, structures and objects, it wasn't however empty or devoid of other items of interest, namely by what appeared to be clusters of holes ringed with light suspended in mid-air above the ground below them. The Doctor began to grab at his upper arms, rubbing them slightly as he shivered a little, "Ouuuurrrrrr, I can feel it worse now. All these window clusters and only one leading to Mother's chamber."

Sutiraena raised her hands up in front of her again, "The time auras coming off these window clusters is staggering. This dimension is more unstable then I thought and if I was to stay a while, I would be spending a lot of time sewing up all these holes with my time thread."

"Excuse me, but what are window clusters?"

The Doctor continued as he and Sutiraena knelled down to look into one of the openings to a window cluster, "Small, centralized wounds or holes in the fabric of reality. Me and my granddaughter accidentally fell into an unusually large window cluster once and found ourselves in an alternative reality where John Lennon wasn't assassinated and Winston Churchill was the Emperor of Earth."

"Poor Susan, the dear child. I was rather sad when she left Gallifrey with you but happy that she managed to find happiness with someone called David. They have three children now you know or rather they did as far as I can remember."

"Is Susan alive?" said the Doctor, casually aiming his sonic screwdriver at the window cluster and scanning it with it.

"Yes, last I heard. I believe she, David and their children found their way onto one of the Motherhouses prior to the end of the Time War."

"I say, what's that when it's at home?" asked Clara, kneeling down between The Doctor and Sutiraena, looking into the window cluster.

"A long story Clara, which unfortunately we have no time to explain right now," said the Doctor as he stopped scanning the window cluster with his sonic screwdriver, then continued, "I think the entrance to Mother's chamber is about 300 feet, due Northwest of here. It's kind of hiding and off to the side."

"I concur. I'm getting the same readings off my own sonic." said Sutiraena, hiding away her sonic screwdriver.

"Let's go then! I'm getting anxious!" said Saralis as Ezarphin, Anarina and Taelaphis started to wander off, looking into some of the windows clusters nearby. They saw bits and pieces of parallel Earth history, along with bits and pieces of history belonging to other planets in parallel universes and dimensions. Saralis then looked back at Ezarphin, Anarina and Taelaphis and spoke up, "Oye, you three, enough sightseeing. Those don't concern us. Hurry, let's catch up with the others."

Ezarphin, Anarina and Taelaphis quickly turned and ran back towards Ezarphin, unaware that they were being watched from a dark area next to the courtyard nearby.

**...CONTINUED CHAPTER 8...  
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	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

After a couple minutes walking down a short road, they soon came upon a large window cluster, which appeared to be stuck upon on inside a wall of one of the tall towers. The Doctor scanned the entire round circumference of the window cluster as Sutiraena spoke, "This is it! The doorway to Mother's Sleeping Chamber! She's bound to be in here! I know it!"

"I'd caution approaching it if I were you," said Ezarphin as the others looked on, watching the Doctor scanning the entrance with his sonic, "Cause if we know our enemy, she likely has booby traps or some other sort of thing guarding it. Let's not be too hasty."

"Oh, enough with your useless pre-cautions, Ezarphin! I'm tired of waiting here and listening to all you chatter! Let's go in and stop her before it's too late! I'm opening that door right now!" said Saralis as he began to approach the doorway. But the Doctor quickly called out to Saralis, "Saralis! No! Keep back!"

Suddenly, there was a loud shriek that was heard just above the entrance to the chamber, than a flash of bright crimson red light was seen coming from broken stripes on the flakes and on the head of some strange, dark creature with large, outstretched wings. From what could be gathered of its silhouette as it first half stepped into view, it looked like something crossed between a dragon and a praying mantis, with smooth black skin and a hooked beak with jagged edges for a mouth, with nostrils perched at the end of that mouth, and two sets of eyes, one smaller than the other swept back on either side. Its black head was elegant and arrow-shaped and its neck was elegant and long, both heavily muscled.

It had the front legs of a praying mantis, but the back legs of a dragon, with a long tail swept behind it that had long, narrow, sharp barbs on the end of it and a frill of long, narrow, sharp barbs running down its back starting midway down its back and ending the base of its tail. Much of its body looked heavily muscled, but appeared in such a way that it looked elegant and streamlined, as if built for both flying and ramming through obstacles like a giant flying tank. And the creature looked large, larger than any creature yet encountered, apart from Krynolian Dragon-Snakes.

"Doctor, what is that?" said Clara, running up to the Doctor and grabbing onto his arm.

The Doctor continued, looking up at the creature, "A male Krynolian Barbed-Back Mantis-Dragon! Very impressive! Another fire-breathing alpha predator of Krynolis! They rival the Krynolian Dragon-Snakes!"

"Everyone look out! It looks like it's set to attack!" said Ezarphin, calling out to everyone.

Suddenly, the Mantis-Dragon began to step further into the light around it, knocking out chunks of the stone in the tower it was perched on as it dug its front legs in, now in full view of the group. It soon opened its mouth wide and let out an ear-splitting roar, showing a light of a blazing crimson fire within its mouth. It suddenly flew straight up into the air, shrieking as it left, disappearing for a few moments before landing back down with a mighty crash in front of the Doctor and the others, once again letting out a loud, fierce roar.

"Oh, if only Anaovlas was here right now! He would deal with this hideous creature!" said Anarina, holding onto Taelaphis.

Taelaphis then spoke towards the Doctor, "Doctor, we need to step back! This creature will be having us baked and fried on a silver platter for Mother's mate first before we get anywhere near the entrance!

The Mantis-Dragon then hissed loudly, than began swinging its tail at the group, aiming the long barbs at the end of its tail at them. The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the eyes of the creature, causing it to shriek in disagreement then shake its head.

The Doctor continued, "Just as the thought, the senses of a Mantis-Dragon are quite sensitive to bright light and high-pitched noises since it is a nocturnal species. It does not like the sonic screwdriver at all."

The Mantis-Dragon then turned back and reared up, swatting at them with its mantis-like front legs, trying to swat at the Doctor. The Doctor and the other dodge the Mantis-Dragon's strikes, moving about in all directions to try and get past it. But as the creature is about to unleash its ultimate fiery weapon, another loud shriek is heard behind the group. The Doctor and the others looked up behind them as a large shadow flew over them and headed towards the Mantis-Dragon.

"Daenaphin!" cried out Anarina as a large, male Krynolian Sky Banshee flew at the Mantis-Dragon, latching its claws and beak onto its neck.

The Doctor went on, "A domesticated Sky Banshee! Excellent timing!"

"He's partially domesticated, Doctor. He's mine and Anarina's pet, friend and guard," said Taelaphis, holding onto Anarina, "We saved his life about 2 months ago when he was wounded by something! He's been with us ever since and is fiercely loyal to us!"

Though Daenaphin was only half the size of the Mantis-Dragon, he was still giving the Mantis-Dragon trouble. The Mantis-Dragon began snapping and clawing at Daenaphin, trying to use its front legs to knock Daenaphin off of him. The Mantis-Dragon then opened its mouth and shot a blast of crimson red fire at Daenaphin, causing Daenaphin to fly out of the way of it, shrieking as he flew. Its broken bands of crimson lit up once more before they both then flew up high into the air to continue their fight elsewhere, vanishing into the clouds and the sky above.

Ezarphin then called out, pointing at an opening revealed, "There, Doctor! The entrance is cleared! Let's run to it!"

And with that, everyone in the group began running towards the entrance to Mother's Sleeping Chamber, leaping through it one by one. But as Clara was about to run into it, she began to look around, as the two creatures appeared again, fighting nearby, "Doctor, What happened to Saralis? Doctor!"

"He's probably inside already! Come on, Clara!" called the Doctor from the other side of the entrance. And with that, Clara stepped back to start in a run and jumped through the entrance, yelling out as she went. An aura of light enveloped her as she leaped through the entrance, then it vanished as she found herself in the Doctor's arms on the other side. The Doctor helped her up on her feet as he continued, "Are you alright, Clara?"

"I'm fine. I'm just fine. Should I not be?"

"I'm not sure, Clara. We're neither in the best of places right now nor in the best of company."

"Why's that then?" asked Clara, looking at the Doctor.

The Doctor, saying nothing, then looked up as if looking up towards the ceiling. Clara then looked up where he was looking, only to see several dozen Garahidroids hovering in a large open space above her head, with their weapons aimed straight at them.

"We've been waiting for you, Doctor." said a familiar voice. Clara was soon stunned by the sight of Saralis, who was standing and looking down from a platform among Garahidroids hovering around him, "Terbalis wasn't the only one with their hands in the cookie jar."

"What are you doing, Saralis?" hissed the Doctor, narrowing his eyes at Saralis, "You're supposed to be on our side. The Brigadier trusted you…"

"_The Brigadier_ as you might have realized by now is no longer the human that he was. Just as I have never been the Krynolian as I appear to be." said Saralis as he stepped down from the platform and stood before the Doctor, "I took on the form of the real Saralis so that you could get me back home to my mate."

The Doctor began to look around at the open space as Saralis continued, "I wasn't exactly sure where my mate's sleeping chamber was. But thanks to the past tense, or rather late Terbalis, I managed to gain the directions to my mate's sleeping quarters. I have cut away from her for quite some time, ever since your wretched brother Anaovlas cut me off from her when we were back on Krynolis."

In a flash, The Doctor then got a vision of Anaovlas in his past life on Krynolis. The scene appeared to be at sunset, looking much like it did now within the red cloud. He could see Anaovlas, as a Time Lord, holding up his right wrist where upon it there appeared to be a type of black leather vortex manipulator. He could see Anaovlas pressing a blue button on it. Then suddenly, he could see a spaceship, a Krynolian Carriership, exploding in mid-air, then falling back down to the ground.

Saralis, or who appeared to be Saralis, then continued, "But fortunately he got what he deserved by being turned into a monster after I lured him into a trap, making him think that is beloved Arana was in danger. Revenge is such a beautiful thing don't you think?"

The Doctor then saw a vision of Anaovlas in flashes, first seeing Anaovlas calling for Arana, nearby a Krynolian Dragon-Snake nest. Then he could see Anaovlas trying to defend himself from a Krynolian Dragon-Snake that was attacking him then Anaovlas on the ground yelling and writhing in pain as the light of regeneration began to form around him.

The Doctor could see the silhouette of his brother regenerating upon the face of a stone wall nearby, then the sound of his brother screaming as a burst of brilliant orange light enveloped him. Then the sight of the shadow grew on the wall as Anaovlas's form changed, then the sound of his voice change from a scream to a shriek as he regenerated into the form of a Krynolian Dragon-Snake, into what he was now.

The Doctor then came back to the present as Saralis continued, "Though I wasn't expecting him to survive but it seems I underestimated my foe a bit."

"Where is the real Saralis then? What did you do with him?"

"Oh, he died a long time ago, Doctor. Just before me and mate were set to leave I…had a little picnic. He was quite delicious, Doctor. A Krynoid such as myself does love the taste of fresh meat and the smell of fresh blood in the morning."

"Are you going to eat me and Clara, then?" said the Doctor, as a pair of Garahidroids came up from behind him and Clara, wrapping their tentacles around their arms, shoulders and neck, "You know we are going to do everything in our power to top you and Mother from taking over the Earth. So why don't you just kill us and get it over with?"

"Doctor, no." said Clara, whispering at him.

"It's alright, Clara, just stalling for time…" – the Doctor then spoke back at the person in front of him again, "Or does Mother's mate, who has unfortunately taken up the form of the late Saralis who was Arana's older brother wish to take us on a grand tour of the facilities first before he kills us?"

"As tempting as you are, Doctor, I've been given order from Mother to bring you and your human friend to her. Besides, I've already eaten…Terbalis was indeed a tasty treat when his betrayal was discovered."

The Doctor then got a vision of Terbalis and Mother's mate, in the form of Saralis, talking to one another, then the silhouette of a struggle and Mother's mate in his real form latching onto Terbalis with his tentacles, while Terbalis was screaming while Mother's mate began to feast upon him.

The Doctor came back to the present again as Mother's mate continued, "Thankfully the Krynolian Carriership had an escape pod on it which had the same hyperspace capabilities as the main ship did before it crashed into the ground. It had enough dwarf star fluid within it for me to catch up with my mate on Earth.

And now it nears the time when we shall detonate the other orbs that have been placed where they should be and thus start our slow and relatively bloodless domination and takeover of the planet Earth. This world shall become our new paradise, our sceptered planet of New Krynolis. And all shall bow before us or be trodden under foot." – Mother's mate then stepped back and spoke to the Garahidroids holding the Doctor and Clara, "Will you two be so kind as to help me escort the Doctor and Ms. Clara to my mate's chambers? She will be quite eager to see them."

"Say one more word and Ms. Clara is going to slap you!" said Clara, trying to appear courageous, even though she was actually frightened.

"It won't work, Clara. Everyone here is immune to standoffishness, especially when you're a human." said the Doctor as he and Clara are nudged forward by the Garahidroids behind them, walking behind Mother's mate, who had his arms behind his back, listening on.

"Where are they going to take us after we see Mother?"

"Probably some very large meat pantry, Clara. But we probably won't be there for long, Krynoids prefer fresh meat. Then again they might kill us slowly and painfully, draining out all our blood then freeze dry us as a neatly packaged snack for the return journey back home…"

"The return journey? I thought someone said they were escaping the original Krynolis because of solar flares from their sun."

"Those solar flares were not as bad as they were made out to be, Clara. They barely made any impact on the planet Krynolis. It is likely that these new Krynoid people are planning on becoming the dominate alien race of this region of space, a title long held by the Zetas of Zeta Recticuli."

"The Zetas, Doctor? I thought the humans were the dominate race in this region."

"That's what they aim to make to think, Clara. The human mind is so easily tricked, so easily manipulated. It's not a wonder that you don't crumble under your own weight of close-mindedness and ignorance for being a bunch of self-centered pudding-brains, thinking nature is under your control when it is the other way around! This sounds a lot like my brother Anaovlas at the moment."

"Ouch, that hurts, Doctor. Does that include me then?"

"No, not you, Clara. You are the perfect pudding-brain. But it is a painful truth about humans that needs to be worked on a bit." The Doctor smiled at Clara as he continued, with him and Clara still being forced down at corridor with Mother's mate, "When my brother Anaovlas exposed a few normal Krynoids he caught in traps to the inner workings of the Terraformator, its energy source not only caused them to start rapidly evolving physically but mentally as well. They are quickly becoming more and more intelligent as the days go on. Soon, they will become just as advanced technologically and mentally as the Zetas if not more so.

The energy source inside the Terraformator caused the same level of rapid evolution on the early ancestors of the Gallifreyans as it is doing now on the Krynoids. My people rapidly evolved within a few million years instead of several hundred million years like we should have."

"So The Time Lords have been a highly advanced civilization of a long time, Doctor?"

"Far longer than any humans, Clara – longer – a billion years of Time Lord history, 5 Billion Years of Gallifreyan history if you add the ancestors of the Time Lords and the planet Gallifrey itself. We were the oldest civilization in the universe, Clara. We still are, more or less. We were long since harvesting stars for fuel when Earth was still ruled over by the dinosaurs," – The Doctor looked at Mother's mate walking in front of him and Clara, "Now that I think about it, I don't think we are going to be eaten, Clara."

"Why is that then?"

The Doctor soon noticed that Mother's mate was listening in, talking towards him in front of him, "Listening in are we? I bet Mother plans no doing something else with me and Clara isn't she?"

"No, just you, the time stitcher and your beloved sister." said Mother's mate, who had an ear turned to the Doctor, glancing over his shoulder at the Doctor as he kept walking, "Ms. Clara will be transformed into a Krynolian, then she will be put to work in the mines bellow."

"Over my dead body you will!" barked Clara, then Mother's mate glanced behind him over his shoulder and responded coolly, "_That_ can be easily arranged, Ms. Clara. You would make a delicious entry at the Welcoming Feast of The New Krynoid Council. Once we've taken over Earth, we will extend greetings to all the other races in the region, than one by one, they will join our new Collective Empire."

"You hear that, Clara?" said the Doctor, talking to Clara at first, then at Mother's mate, "These new Krynoids are getting smarter and more cunning by the second. Is that Mother's and yours plan then? To take over the Earth, make everyone Krynolian slave labor and then make the transformed Earth into the heart of your so-called Collective Empire? I don't suppose either The Reaper Collective or The Ganhera has signed up for your New Krynolis Collective Empire has they? Those two races would love nothing more than to join their smaller Hive Empires together in alliance for a good Collective Empire."

Mother's mate continued, "Oh, The Ganhera have already signed on. We are still in intense meetings with the Reaper Collective however. The Reaper Collective was once the problem of your beloved Galliphim ancestors if I recall, during the battles of the Fledgling Empires. But they've long since made their own little empire, ruling over the dark open spaces within the space/time vortex itself, feeding on paradoxes, time wounds, and all manner of tears, cracks and holes in space/time. Unfortunately for them your people still cause them trouble in the form of those wretched, glorified Time Stitchers! Never the less, The Reapers would certainly make a fine edition to the new collective empire."

"Why are you telling us all this?" asked Clara, looking and listening on.

The Doctor butted in, "Because after all this is said and done Clara, neither of us will be in any position living or dead to tell _anyone_ or _anything_ else about Mother's and mine's plans." - The Doctor gave Clara a look as if he was gearing up to do something. Clara soon picked up on the sign as she noticed the Doctor slowly grasping for his sonic screwdriver that he had stowed away in his coat sleeve. Clara smiled a little, "Ohhhhh, I see. So what do you plan on doing with the Doctor and the other Time Lords then? Put them in some sort of Intergalactic Space Zoo for Rare and Endangered Alien Races?"

Mother's mate continued, still unaware of what the Doctor was getting ready to do, "Oh, we've got something much better planned for your Time Lord friends, Ms. Clara. Time Lords have a lot of enemies out there in the universe that would gladly pay a high price for them, dead or alive. I have no doubt that the great deal of money that will come from the transaction will greatly benefit the new collective empire well."

The Doctor then nodded at Clara looking at him as he yelled out, "Now, Clara!"

Clara quickly went into action as the Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver backwards at the Garahidroid holding him, letting off a short EMP burst from his sonic, then sending another quick EMP burst towards the Garahidroid holding Clara, stunning them both. Mother's mate turned quickly and hissed at the Doctor and Clara as they went hand in hand running towards then exit into another corridor.

"After them you fools!" cried Mother's mate as the two stunned Garahidroids quickly shook off the stun and went shrieking after the Doctor and Clara, their tentacles raised up in front of them as they quickly flew after them. A few moments later, the Doctor and Clara quickly gave the Garahidroids the slip, turning into another corridor, then another, until the Garahidroids were all but lost in a maze of corridors, confusing them. Clara then got a quick breather before noticing the Doctor standing outside an opening in the corridor they were in, atop a balcony overlooking something bellow.

Clara then spoke at she looked over at him, "Doctor? Doctor, what is it? What's out there?"

"A familiar sight, Clara. Nothing more."

"A familiar sight?"

"It's very much like on Skaro, during the Time War, in the fiery Ironward Pits - charred clothing; dirty, muddy faces. The jangling of the chains in the air, long, binding chains. And the slave masters chose among the Dalek allies with their laser whips, cracking them through the dry, unclean air."

Clara slowly walked up to the Doctor to stand next to him as he went on, "The Daleks used thirsty, half-starved slaves of all kinds during the Time War to mine the raw Dalekanium Ore they needed to make more casings for their green, mutated husks they called their bodies. Gallifreyans, Minyans, Jathar, Polushans, all of Gallifrey's allies, _there_, in those pits. Many were forced to work in those pits day and night, unprotected from the radioactive elements they were exposed to. Eventually many of the slaves either died or would slowly mutate into some sort of disfigured, flesh-eating monster which would feast upon the weaker, dying slaves as they fell. Becoming less intelligent, becoming less reasonable, like savage animals they were."

Clara placed a hand over one of the Doctor's hands holding the railing of the balcony they were standing on as he continued, "I was there, Clara. Watching it all from high in a cage suspended overseeing all of it bellow. I was kept there for nearly a fortnight during the Time War, locked in a cage forged and built by the very slaves that were forced to mine for them. The Dalek Overseer watching over me would never put me to work down in the pits, saying that I was far too valuable and dangerous of a captive to be let out of his sight for one moment. It wasn't until some Daleks were sent to take me to their Dalek Emperor that I had the chance to escape. I managed to free my TARDIS out of the area where it was being held and ran off, went into hiding for a few days to lick my wounds while the slaves I left behind remained, still enslaved and unable to be set free. I was in my 8th incarnation then."

The Doctor then quickly turned away and went back down the corridor they had come down. Clara quickly went after the Doctor, leaving the nightmarish sight of Krynolian slaves working in large, open pits bellow the balcony behind them. Clara quickly grabbed onto the Doctor's arm as they began walking down a corridor, keeping an eye out for any friends or familiar faces they might come across. They then came upon some type of prison ward, a corridor filled with lighted prison cells on either side. Clara then pulled on the Doctor's sleeve and spoke, "Doctor! It's the others, Taelaphis and Anarina!"

Clara had caught sight of Taelaphis and Anarina in a prison cell at the far end of the corridor. It didn't take Clara long to realize that there were other creatures in the prison cells as she ran past, quickly coming up to the prison cell that held Taelaphis and Anarina.

"It's about time you two found us! We've been locked her for at least two hours! You two are extremely slow-paced!" said Taelaphis as Anarina pinched him on the arm, causing Taelaphis to mouth 'ouch', Anarina then spoke, "How are you two going to get us out of here then before the Garahidroids come back for us to take us to Mother?"

"Don't do anything, Clara, not yet." said the Doctor, raising a finger and pointing towards Clara as she looked at him, "I want to check and make sure these cell doors aren't rigged to send a signal to our Garahidroid hosts and their pet-loving master."

The Doctor began to look around at all the creatures in the prison ward as he walked past. One of the strange alien creatures in one of the cells looked like it was a large part lion/part scorpion creature covered in long, loose hanging, seaweed-like fur on its back, with amber tan or honey yellow colored fur over the rest of its body and a long, swept back scorpion-like tail with a duel-tipped stringer on the end and two pairs of scorpion-like eyes, with a band of broken stripes on either side of its body upon its flanks, which glowed a bright yellow color in the dark.

In another prison cell, there was another creature that looked like it was a large part owl/part bat creature with large, outstretched wings and tusks in the form of deer antlers sprouting from its large, owl-like mouth, two pairs of bat-like eyes, glowing red spots all over its part feathered/part bared body and a long pair of long filaments sprouting from its forehead and sweeping back over its head, tipped with glowing red lures. It had a long, sweptback tail of feathers that was also covered in glowing red spots.

The Doctor then spoke, looking at this bird-like creature through the bars of its cell, "That's a Krynolian Saber-Caltholin, a rather dangerous little creature. The Krynolians often use their sharp, poison-filled feathers as poison darts. And that part lion/part scorpion creature is a Krynolian Manicore, very dangerous creatures indeed. I'd keep well enough away from all these creatures, Clara."

"There's so many of them, all different, all alien." said Clara, looking at all the other alien creatures around her, "Why would Mother want any of these creatures?"

"It's Mother's Zoo of Nightmares, Clara. Some of but a few of her little alien pets." said the Doctor as he caught sight of a smaller cell in the center of the right side wall. The Doctor looked into the cell and smiled, "Well, it seems that Mother has a soft spot for smaller, warmer creatures after all."

Clara walked up to where the Doctor was and looked into the small cell. Inside was a small, rodent-like creature about the size of a rabbit which looked like it was part flying squirrel/part jack-rabbit, with seemingly no eyes, but with gill-like protrusions on either side of its face, nostrils, sleek bodied and covered in warm, plush light tan fur and with flaps of skin stretched between its limbs and a long, squirrel-like tail swept behind it which allowed it to glide across its little prison cell with ease. It had a pair of long filaments sprouting from either side of its forehead with a glowing orange lures on the ends of them, swept back over its head and a single broken band of glowing orange stripes on either side of its body, on its flanks.

The Doctor reached his in through the bars of the cell and started petting the creature as Clara went on, "Doctor, what sort of creature is that? Is it safe to even put your hand in there?"

The Doctor remained silent or a moment or two as he continued to pet the creature under the chin and then spoke, "A shame really. This little fellow is probably one of the last survivors of Gallifrey."

"What, he's another relic from your home planet, Doctor?"

"Indeed, Clara. And _he_ is a _she_ and she is a Gallifreyan Plush-tail, also called a Suntailer. They are but one of Gallifey's several rare and furry nocturnal flying mammals, and also a good friend to have on your lap on those cold Gallifreyan winter days. They have wide faces and are all eyes just like you, Clara. Maybe I will name her Clara after you."

"Well, shouldn't we get her and all the other creatures out of here or something?"

"No, we can't, not yet." said the Doctor as he pulled his arm out of the Plush-tails cell and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, "All these cells have trip locks on them just as I suspected. If we try to open just one of these cells without a proper key, all the sirens will go off then down will come the Garahidroids upon us. We need to come up with a plan to save everyone, including these creatures in these prison cells."

"Doctor, Clara, look behind you! It's Mother!" cried Anarina as Taelaphis kept hold of her, hugging her close to him.

The Doctor and Clara quickly turned to look behind them. There, standing before them was the face of a woman that the Doctor had been waiting long to see close up. Mother was surrounded by Garahidroids, watching from all around her and above her. Mother quickly raised a laser pistol and spoke, "I thought I smelled fresh meat down this way. You two lingered around for far too long."

"We were waiting down here to see you, Madame." said the Doctor, walking up to Mother with his arms behind his back, then stopping in front of her at a safe distance, just out of arm and tentacle reach, "You see, we were quite fascinated with all the strange and beautiful creatures we saw that the circus show, we just wanted to come down and see what went on behind the scenes," - The Doctor, his eyes fixed on Mother, talked back to Clara standing behind him, "Quite an impressive collection of exotic alien creatures Mother has doesn't she, Clara?"

"Doctor, what are you doing?" asked Clara, mildly nervous.

"Come along, Clara. Mother likes to talk about her collection of rare and near-extinct pets. Personally, I am rather curious about the Gallifreyan Plush-Tail you have locked away in the smaller cell next to me here. One of your recent editions to your collection is it?"

"Quite so, Doctor. The creature belongs to the time stitcher, who is at this very moment secured safely in my Sleeping Chamber. Care to join her, Doctor?"

"Clara doesn't go anywhere without _me_." said the Doctor intensely looking at Mother.

"As I've already gathered, Doctor. And thanks to your time stitcher, I know your name is the Doctor. Is she a relation of yours, Doctor?"

"None of your business, Madame." said the Doctor with his arms still behind his back.

"Now now, let's not be so harsh. I just came down here to collect the two other prisoners that my mate left locked down here. We are all going to my Sleeping Chamber soon."

"I bet that lace blue parasol with the Gallifreyan circular writing also belongs to the time stitcher as well," said the Doctor, noticing the lace parasol seen by Auralynn earlier, "You know it's quite wrong stealing precious valuables from equally precious people. Why didn't you bring the time stitcher's steam punk TARDIS down here? I thought you liked hoarding precious items, alive on not alive."

"_That_ steam punk TARDIS was too dangerous to be brought down here. So I left on the surface to rust. If it can rust that is."

"You summoned me, My Lady?" said a familiar voice behind Mother. Mother looked back and saw that it was Arana, the late Saralis's younger sister.

"Yes, I did Arana, my dear," said Mother as she put down her laser pistol and turned to face Arana, "I have come with news about your _late_ brother, Saralis."

"Late, My Lady?"

"Yes, quite late indeed. It seems that my rather close 'pet' got a bit hungry on his way to reunite with me that he had to eat your gravely injured brother for a snack before coming here."

"My Lady?" - Arana's voice began to crack as tears welled up in her eyes - "No, it can't be true. I saw him recently amongst the human soldiers on the surface. He was there, I saw him!"

"I'm sorry, Arana," said the Doctor as Mother looked over at him a moment, "But what Mother is saying to you is true. The real Saralis is dead, murdered than eaten by her 'pet' or rather by her mate. The Saralis you saw with the Brigadier and his men was Mother's mate, in Saralis's form."

"No...No...My brother, it can't be...tell me it can't be My Lady!" screamed Arana as she charged towards Mother with the fury of both anger and sadness. Mother then raised her voice as one of the Garahidroids kept hold of Arana, "Call it payment for your treachery, Arana! I know that you have been spying for the human soldiers at the surface! Using you beloved Anaovlas to block out my mental influence upon you! Telling them about our weaknesses! Well, my dear, two can play at that game."

Mother looked over at the Doctor as he spoke, "Mother's mate took on the form of your late brother so that he could spy on the Brigadier and his soldiers. While you were spying for the Brigadier, he was spying for Mother."

"So now there are no secrets to be kept on either side of the fence. We are all on equal ground." said Mother, "Though we have since adjusted our plans accordingly to ensure that mine and my mate's new children will win this precious Earth and all the beings and creatures that live upon it! It will become the heart of our vast and glorious new collective empire! The Hive Empires of The Reaper Collective and The Ganhera will merge into one and then together, they will join the New Krynolis Collective Empire. We will then march across this universe as one great and mighty super-collective! Any of those who stand against us will be crushed under the mighty foot and tentacle of the New Krynolis Empire! All empires will bow before us upon the sight of our great power either by the blade or by the tentacle! We will infiltrate all 9 corners of this known universe until every empire, every being, comes under our rule! One power to rule them all! The Krynolani, the True Masters of the Universe!"

"You are mad, Mother!" said Anarina as Taelaphis held her close to him; "You're completely and utterly insane!"

Everyone in the area was met by the sound of Mother's insane laughter as it echoed off the walls of the vast open space above, with the Garahidroids circling around her and standing in the bright lights of the prison ward. The creatures in the cells began to react - hissing, shrieking, roaring, making various noises of excitement. As Clara looked around at all the reactions of the animals, The Doctor kept is eyes fixed on Mother, intensely watching her in her unfolding madness.

**...CONTINUED CHAPTER 9...  
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	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

The whole group was now going to Mother's Sleeping Chamber - Taelaphis, Anarina, The Doctor, Clara and Arana, were being escorted by The Garahidroids, with their tentacles wrapped tightly around their limbs.

Anarina then realized something, "Where's Ezarphin!? Where's my brother!?"

Arana, who was now a captive like the rest of them, soon spoke, "He escaped back through the dimensional gate, with the Brigadier and his men. He, Harada, Auralynn, the Brigadier and the others are gathering up help for us. They will be down here soon."

"How do you know that, Arana?" asked the Doctor.

"Because me and Anaovlas helped them back to the surface. I gave them the means to get down here when they can."

"Ahhh, yes, my serpent-tailed brother." said the Doctor with a sigh.

Clara looked over at Arana and smiled as they were walking, "Quick question, how did you ever fall in love with the Doctor's brother?"

"Claraaa..." said the Doctor in a mildly irritated manner.

"I was only wondering," said Clara, smiling, "It might actually give me a few pointers on how to help snag me a Time Lord."

"Never going to happen, Clara, Gallifreyans such as myself have their manners and their dignity," said the Doctor with a smirk.

"Well, I don't mean you and your daft old face!" said Clara as Taelaphis spoke up, "Will you guys focus on what is going to happen to us?"

"Sorry," said Clara, looking at Taelaphis, "I was just trying to lighten the mood. For all we know this might be the end of all of us. I wouldn't mind going out on a high note if it was at all possible. But it isn't is it?"

"Don't worry, Clara. Nothing is going to happen to us."

"How do you know, Doctor?" asked Anarina, looking forward with a suppressed look of fright in her eyes, "You know what they did to Terbalis and Saralis. Who knows what they will do to us in their madness."

"Did you hear, Anarina? I am to valuable," said the Doctor, looking over at Anarina, "Mother doesn't plan to kill and eat me..." - The Doctor then looked forward again with a mild look of dread in his eyes, "She plans to sell me."

The group was soon brought through a set of double doors, which opened up into a vast circular room. Near the center of the room, was Mother's elegant four-post bed, surrounded with green and red see-through drapes that hung from rails and set all the way around it.

As the Doctor and the others were placed before it, they soon caught sight of Mother, rising from the center of her bed, dressed in a long, loose-fitting, free flowing, hooded, crimson red robe, underneath which she wore a tight fitting crimson red cat suit which sculpted out the beautiful and slender curves of her body along with elegant lace-ups on the back running down the center of her back and ending at the base of her spine.

"Welcome, Doctor and his friends, to my Main Sleeping Chamber," said Mother as she approached the group and began pacing in front of them like a predator sizing up her prey, "I trust that you will find this a most educational experience before facing your inevitable destinies."

"So where's your mate at this time?" asked the Doctor, looking on.

"Oh, he is with my 'other' body. He is preparing himself for an evening of glorious and unadulterated…" – Mother paused a moment as she stopped in mid breath, then closed her mouth saying nothing then continued, soon to change the subject, "Well, that is between me and my mate now isn't it?"

"Yeah,_ we really don't want to hear the details_." said Clara as the Doctor looked on intensely. Clara then continued, "So what do you plan on doing with us then?"

Mother approached Arana as she continued, "Much. You will all be used in helping me and my mate to fully establish the new Krynolani Hive Empire."

"Never!" cried out Anarina, trying to free herself from the grips of the Garahidroid holding her.

"We would much rather die than help you and your madness!" said Taelaphis, also trying to free himself.

"That can certainly be arranged you two. But we Krynolani only kill an enemy that has no value or significance and we Krynolani take full advantage of any and all situations or chances given to us," – Mother paced down the line to the Doctor and stood facing him a moment, "No matter how small, dangerous and insignificant it might be."

"My people are not small and insignificant, Madame." said the Doctor arrogantly, "On the contrary, if The High Council ever got news of such an endeavor, you wouldn't last a single month after they've dealt with you."

"Ha! Strong talk coming from a Gallifreyan cut off from his own people, never to see them again and likely never wishes to!" – The Doctor's eyes widened a little as Mother started walking a circle around him and the Garahidroid holding him as she continued, "Oh yes, we know all about you, Doc-tar! We should know. We did quite a bit of research about you. Of course, we had to be certain that you were the great and legendary savior of the Time Lords, since you have so recently changed your face. But now we are certain that you are that Gallifreyan, Doctor, and we know all too well what you are capable of."

"I highly doubt it, Madame. You may know some things about me, but you do not know what I am fully capable of. Even legendary heroes, as you say, still have secrets, abilities that only they know about and use."

Mother continued as she listened on, "Well, I suppose that is true, but we know enough about you to deal with you to say the least. A Renegade Child of Gallifrey, one who has been running away and rebelling against his own people for centuries gone by. Is it any wonder that you were branded with a coiled snake tattoo?"

Clara glanced over at the Doctor silently as Mother then stopped in front of the Doctor again and faced him as she went on, "You're people are lost in another dimension, Doctor. Not likely to ever be found again any time soon because you put them _there_ at the end of The Time War. You locked them away _there_, trapping them. For if they ever came back, the Time War would start anew, with us, the Krynolani, lighting the path to war – And with the the Terraformator almost ready to complete the transformation of this world and the Krynolani, we will be ready in a few months' time to begin unfolding the first phase of our takeover of the entire universe, starting with the Zetas of Zeta Recticuli."

"So what do you plan to do with me then?"

"You and the rest of your kind with you will be sold to the highest bidder in our new empire. What they who buy you do with you afterwards will be their own problem."

As Mother and the Doctor continued talking, Clara soon noticed that not everyone waiting around Mother was an enemy. Nearby there were several beings covered in white hooded robes, assumed to be other Krynolani at first, their faces covered over with hoods. Soon, the familiar face of Ezarphin looked out from under the hood of one of the white robed figures and smiled, than Clara focused back on the conversation between the Doctor and Mother.

The Doctor continued, "…So where is your real body then? How can you last in the living clay body for so long?"

"I don't. I leave my clay body and go back into my real body at night, which unfortunately can't leave its chamber for it has not healed completely yet. But it is healed enough for my mate to enjoy." – Mother smiled mischievously as Clara continued, "Again, too much information. Why don't you try letting me go for a few moments and see how long you are still standing after I'm done with you."

"Again, it doesn't work, Clara." said the Doctor, "They know how weak and inferior the human race is. At least when they transform you into Krynolians, you are in a much stronger, much more superior form than your original."

"Excuse me, but _this_ original is not weak cause _this_ original is going slap you a moment if you don't shut up a moment."

"That's my Clara." said the Doctor with a smile.

"Enough talk!" said Mother suddenly as she turned and walked back towards her bed, "I think it is about time to set the wheels in motion don't you agree? It is time to show you what the Terraformator is truly capable of, Doctor!"

And with that, Mother stepped over to one of the posts of her bed and pressed on a raised part of the post inward, causing gears underneath it to turn and wind as the bed began to flip over and disappear under the floor, revealing a secret empty space underneath it. Soon, an elegant-looking column began to rise up out of the floor which had a wraparound control panel and a strange red globe set on top of it, covered in Gallifreyan circular writing. The globe on top was transparent and holographic, showing within it the locations of all the other orbs in the mechanism that were scattered across the circumference of the planet. This was the central control module of the Terraformator, the one and only thing that could start or stop the sinister plans of Mother and her people from going in motion.

Mother stepped up onto the circular platform surrounding the column and began to rub her hands gleefully as she walked around it, her back turned to the others, "Yes, yes, it is ready. The organic nanobots within the device have finally finished repairing it. Now the countdown can begin. The end of the Earth as you know it will come soon and the start of a new age will begin for me and my children."

Suddenly, Arana broke free from her bounds and charged towards Mother with her blades drawn, with the full anger and fury of a Krynolian warrior. The Doctor called out, "Arana! NO! Stop!"

In a flash, Mother swiftly turned to face the charging Arana, who was quickly met by a tentacle from above, slamming Arana into the wall with brute force, along with the sounds of shrieking and roaring. Looming overhead above the group was Mother's mate, now in his true form.

"No one would dare come close to me when my mate is above me guarding me!" yelled Mother as many of the Garahidroids in the room began to panic and scatter as a voice nearby did speak, it was Ezarphin, "You wanna bet, Madame?!"

Suddenly, the group of white robed figures pulled off their robes, revealing Ezarphin, Harada, Auralynn and the Brigadier, along with several of his UNIT soldiers including Daniel, all of which were brandishing strange Krynolian guns. They all began shooting down the scattering Garahidroids, who were shooting back at them. Suddenly, the sounds of more shrieking and roaring from above, along with more writhing tentacles from above came down to join in with the mayhem, one of which grabbed a hold of Clara as the group began shooting up at him.

Taking no time to think about it as the Doctor knocked out a few Garahidroids with his sonic, Doctor pulled out the syringe of blue liquid he had been keeping and tossed it to Clara, "Clara! Catch!"

Clara managed to free one of her arms as she grabbed the syringe out of mid-air. She then took the protective cover off the needle of the syringe and stabbed Mother's mate with it, injecting the blue liquid into the grasping tentacle. A loud shriek was heard from Mother's mate, causing him to let go of Clara and start flailing about. His body was being burned inside out by the strange blue liquid the Doctor had collected earlier. Mother's eyes widened with shock as she watched her mate slowly burning inside out, roaring and shrieking in pain before falling from the ceiling to the floor below, presumed dead.

"MY MATE! NOOOOOOOOO!" Mother cried as Mother's reaction went from shock to rage. She then let out a loud scream as she charged towards Clara, who was looking around as if she wasn't sure what she had just done, holding the syringe in her hand. But Mother's screams of anger were quickly snuffed out by Ezarphin, with a Krynolian Freeze Gun strapped to him, which was swiftly aimed towards Mother than fired at her, stopping her almost instantly. Mother was instantly froze by the blast of blue light coming from the freeze gun, then a couple moments later, her living clay body began to fracture before it shattered into millions of pieces, which fell to the floor.

This battle was over.

Ezarphin then put the freeze gun down quickly as he went up to Clara and slowly took the syringe from her, "We'll take that from you, Clara. It's alright now, we're safe."

Clara quickly gave the syringe to Ezarphin, who in turn gave the syringe to the Brigadier. The Doctor then walked up to Clara, who quickly turned to hug him.

"Do you think your scientists can make more of that stuff, Brigadier? It might be useful in killing off the rest of the Krynoids on this planet." said Ezarphin, glaring at the syringe while standing next to the Brigadier and the others with him.

"No," said the Doctor suddenly as Clara was hugging him.

"Doctor?" said Clara, as the others looked on.

"No. I will not have any more senseless killing, Ezarphin. I've wrote down an altered formula of the liquid. We will use it to change back the planet to the way it was and change back those who want to be changed back into humans. Those who don't wish to be changed back into humans shall go with the Krynolians if they so wish it. I will not have any more Krynoids being killed without just cause or reason. I will offer to take them to a new planet where they will not interfere or cause conflict with the Krynolians anymore. That is how it is _going_ to be, how it _should_ be, how it _must_ be."

"But, Doctor. They have killed so many of my kind! They need to be killed while they are at their weakest! We can't let them live, we mustn't!" said Ezarphin in protest.

The Doctor continued, "No! There is still hope for this new species of Krynoid. They will learn the error of their ways in time. I will not stand here and see another new alien species wiped out before they have a chance to shine. I've already seen enough of that in my lifetime I can assure you." said the Doctor, thinking back at the time when the Human/Dalek/Time Lord race existed and how the Daleks killed them off before they had a chance to shine. The Doctor was not about to see such a thing happen again.

As the group argued amongst themselves and the Doctor, they were unaware that even though the battle was over, the war was far from over. Suddenly, unbeknownst to those in the group, there was a sudden crash as holes burst open through the floor, from which came masses of long, writhing vines, grabbing onto everyone except the Doctor, dragging them down to the floor and pinning them down.

"Brother! Arrgh!" cried Auralynn as the vines wrapped around her legs and waist, lifting her off the ground briefly before pinning her down.

"Auralynn! No!" shouted the Doctor, watching as the vines slowly consumed and surrounded his sister. Everyone in the group was being smothered by the vines which burst out of the floor.

Clara called out, "Doctor!"

Taelaphis, Anarina, Ezarphin and Arana were muffled by the vines.

The Brigadier, Daniel and those other soldiers with them were struggling to free themselves.

Harada cried out, "Oh, no you don't!" - She managed to fend off the vines for a moment or so before they ultimately subdued her.

A booming voice then sudden rose from above, "DOCTOR! YOU ARE A TIME LORD OF GALLIFREY! YOU WILL HELP ME NOW!"

"Ah, so you are still alive after all, Madame? What for?" asked the Doctor, answering the voice, tilting his head to the side slightly to listen to the voice from above, "Why would you need me to come to you? You're plans have failed! And you can't reproduce without your mate! Why don't you just give up now?"

"THAT WILL NOT STOP ME, DOCTOR! I WILL FIND ANOTHER! YOU WILL HELP ME, DOCTOR! YOU ARE A TIME LORD, YOU WILL HELP ME COMPLETE MY PLANS!"

"And what if I refuse?"

"YOU WILL HELP ME, DOCTOR! YOU WILL HELP ME OR YOUR FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS WILL DIE!"

The Doctor then turned to look back at the others as the vines tightened around the others, causing them to cry out in pain. The Doctor then looked back towards the ceiling and spoke, "Why would you need me for? You have my Great-Aunt Sutiraena with you!"

"SHE IS DEAD, DOCTOR! MY MATE KILLED HER AND ATE HER! SHE IS NO LONGER AMONG THE LIVING!"

"No…NO!"

"YOU WILL HELP ME, DOCTOR! YOU WILL HELP ME COMPLETE MY PLANS!"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes in anger as he looked back at Clara and the others as Arana spoke, "Don't believe anything she says, Doctor! I should know! I have seen into her mind! She's lying to you!"

"DO NOT LISTEN TO THE BABBLINGS OF A TRAITOR, DOCTOR! COME TO ME NOW AND I WILL RETURN SOME PRECIOUS ITEMS TO YOU!"

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling again as the ceiling above him suddenly opened up and a bright light shown through, revealing a much larger chamber above, as the booming voice continued, "LOOK UP INTO THE LIGHT DOCTOR AND BEHOLD MY TRUE FORM!"

"Don't give in, Doctor!" cried Arana, "She will try to take over your mind and make you do things! Refuse to help her, Doctor!"

"Don't worry, Arana," said the Doctor, talking back to her, "I know what I am doing and what must be done."

"Yes, he really does." said Clara as she is struggling to free herself from the vines holding her.

The Doctor looked up into the larger chamber above, raising a hand in front of his eyes to try and shield some of the light until it dimmed. And there, suspended high above the floor below was Mother. Only she was now seen within her true form and much, much larger. The upper part of her body looked humanoid, while the lower part was a great mesh of long, writhing tentacles. She had long, writhing tentacles sprouting from her flanks and all along the sides of her face, on the top of her head and running down the middle of her back.

She had a nose, mouth and ears like a human would have but even though she didn't have any eyes, she did have what looked like heat sensing gills on either side of her face, five gills on each side, starting from where the eyes were supposed to be and tampering midway down the sides of her neck, glowing and red in color. She had long arms and fingers tipped with long, pointed fingernails, and also had glowing red speckles all over her greenish-gray body.

"DOCTOR!" said the booming voice of Mother.

"I'm here. What do you want me for then?"

Mother raised one of her tentacles towards the Doctor, revealing the empty clothes of Sutiraena, along with her sonic screwdriver. With a hiss, Mother quickly tossed the items towards the Doctor, who picked up the items as Mother continued, "YOU WILL HELP ME FULLY ACTIVATE THE TERRAFORMATOR AND SET MY PLANS IN MOTION! AS I AM NO LONGER IN A HUMAN FORM, YOU WILL BE MY HANDS AND ACTIVATE THE REST OF IT FOR ME!"

"_That's not it at all_," said the Doctor, holding Sutiraena's items close to him, "You were never going to activate the rest of the Terraformator were you, Madame? You wouldn't have been able to. The Terraformator has a safeguard on it where only a Gallifreyan can activate it properly. You may have gotten it to work partially due to it being damaged, but in order to fully activate it, you need a Gallifreyan to do so. You have been bluffing all this time."

"YES, DOCTOR! BUT NOW I AM NO LONGER BLUFFING! IT IS TIME FOR MY PEOPLE TO SHINE AND BECOME THE SUPREME BEINGS OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!"

"Do you not know who you sound like?! You sound like The Daleks! They tried taking over the universe once, but I stopped them, just as I am going to stop you!"

"NO, DOCTOR! YOU WILL HELP ME OR YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS AGAIN!"

"Why don't you let me help you and your people properly?" asked the Doctor, "You don't have to take over the Earth or even take over the universe to be great and powerful. Free the Krynolians and transformed humans that you have enslaved and I will take you and your people to a planet, far away from Krynolis and the Krynolians where you and your people can grow and live in peace without having to enslave anyone to prove a point or to take over the universe. I believe that The Krynolani have a chance to become a great and powerful people, but you are going about it all wrong!"

"NO, DOCTOR! I AM TIRED OF MY CHILDREN BEING HUNTED DOWN AND LOOKED DOWN UPON BY THE UNIVERSE AS HIDEOUS, MINDLESS BEASTS! IT IS MY PEOPLE'S TIME TO SHINE AND WE WILL DO IT ALL OUR WAY! IT IS TIME THAT WE, THE KRYNOLANI, LOOKED DOWN UPON THE UNIVERSE! WE WILL BECOME ALL-POWERFUL! WE WILL BECOME THE SUPREME BEINGS OF THE UNIVERSE! EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN THE TIME LORDS THEMSELVES! YOU WILL HELP ME COMPLETE MY PLANS AND YOU WILL DO IT NOW, DOCTOR!"

Suddenly, the floor underneath the Doctor, opened up, revealing the orb filled with the god energy. The central control module of the Terraformator and its platform soon shifted into position over the top of the orb bellow. A lighted column underneath the central control module then it came down and connected up with a lighted column that rose from the top of the orb of god energy bellow it, connecting midway between the two floors. Further control panels on the central control module then flipped up, including a big, blue primer button.

"TO THE PLATFORM WITH YOU, DOCTOR!"

"No," said the Doctor, looking angrily up at Mother.

"YOU WILL GO TO THE PLATFORM NOW, DOCTOR!" said Mother as the vines around the others began to tighten once more, causing them to cry out in pain again.

"You are making a mistake, Madame. I am trying to save your people, not destroy them."

"THEN HELP ME, DOCTOR! HELP ME CREATE THE NEW KRYNOLANI HIVE EMPIRE AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED! HELP US BECOME THE SUPREME BEINGS OF THE UNIVERSE AND I WILL CONSIDER MAKING YOU MY CONSORT! TOGETHER, WE WILL CONCURE THE UNIVERSE AND ALL WHO LIVE WITHIN IT! YOU WOULD NOT REGRET HAVING ME AS YOUR ALLY AND YOUR MATE!"

"Don't do it, Doctor! I don't care what happens to me, just don't do it, Doctor!" cried Arana as the others began calling to the Doctor and shaking their heads, telling him not to do it and not to help Mother. But the Doctor had everything under control, especially when he caught sight of a large shadow looming behind Mother. The Doctor then continued, "I tried to help you and your people, Madame. But it seems you and your children were doomed long before this moment. I'm sorry."

"SORRY, DOCTOR?! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO SHALL BE SORRY!"

"I don't think so, Madame! Anaovlas?! You're a large enough beastie! Deal with her! Finish what you started!"

Mother was about to attack the Doctor when suddenly, the large shadowy figure behind her crawled into the light, revealing Anaovlas in all his angry, serpentine glory. Anaovlas quickly clamped his mouth on Mother's left shoulder, causing her to shriek in disagreement. She then turned her body around so that she could take on Anaovlas, wrapping her tentacles around him. Roaring, shrieking, hissing, strangling, fire-breathing, biting and clawing, it was all happening at once as the Doctor ran back to the group and began to free those in the group from the vines holding them.

The battle between Anaovlas and Mother quickly escalated as Anaovlas clamped his mouth around Mother's waist before lifting her up and slamming her into the floor repeatedly. She quickly returned the favor by trying to strangle him with her tentacles and clawing at his face, trying to blind him. The battle soon moved to the outside world as Anaovlas picked Mother up once more and tossed her into the wall, causing it to smash apart. Anaovlas then reared up and roared loudly, spreading out his hood as Mother stumbled to stand up straight again, hissing at Anaovlas. Suddenly, with one swat of her tentacle, Mother broke off the orb on top of the central control module, causing it to malfunction.

Having realized what Mother had just done as he was trying to free Clara, The Doctor quickly turned to look towards the central control module and began to use his sonic screwdriver, pointing it downward to the floor while the battle between Mother and Anaovlas continued.

"Doctor!" cried Clara, trying to free herself the rest of the way from the vines holding her.

The Doctor then looked at his sonic screwdriver as he continued, "Mother has caused the Terraformator to follow its secondary protocols by breaking off the orb on top of the central control module!" said the Doctor as he focused back on Clara and freed her from her vines, "In the event that the central control node is damaged by an outside force, it will instantaneously begin to start the countdown and begin transformation! It's like an insurance policy to ensure that the transformation is successful! The countdown has started, Clara! The other nodes of the Terraformator are powering up, we need to stop it before it completes the sequence!"

Bellow, the Doctor could hear the orb of god energy powering up and waves of light began to emit from it and climb up the column connected it to the central control module.

A fierce wind began to stir up around Clara and the Doctor as Clara continued, "What do we do, Doctor? We need to stop it! Shut it down!"

"But the central control module is useless now, Clara! The only way I can shut it down now is if the orb on top of it is replaced!"

"DOCTOR!" called out a voice behind him. The Doctor quickly turned around and saw that it was Sutiraena, in her under gown, stumbling over to him as she grabbed onto him.

"Sutiraena! I knew that you were still alive! I could sense you nearby!"

Sutiraena continued as she held out her crystal ball, "Doctor! Use my crystal ball! It will short out the sequence long enough so that you can use your sonic screwdriver to shut it down! Do it quickly before it's too late!"

As the Terraformator began to completely power up, one by one, the nodes that were placed on various points of the planet began to power up. Soon, the whole world would be irreversibly changed and only the Doctor, Clara and Sutiraena had one chance to stop it.

"Go! Get to the platform! We need to sync the shutdown! You place the crystal ball on top of the central control module and I will use the sonic screwdriver from here!" said the Doctor as Sutiraena quickly stumbled over to the central control module as the battle between Mother and Anaovlas continued on outside.

Sutiraena quickly placed the crystal ball on top of the central control module and called out, "Doctor! Do it now!"

"Step away from it and come back to where I am!"

Sutiraena stumbled back over to the Doctor and grabbed onto him once more.

"Let us hope this works or we're all dead!" said the Doctor as he quickly changed settings on his sonic screwdriver, then aimed it towards the crystal ball. Clara was nearby, holding onto the Doctor's coat. The wind storm around them got fiercer as the Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the crystal ball on top of the central control module. After a moment or two, the crystal ball began to light up as they began to hear the sounds of the central control module powering down. One by one, the nodes set elsewhere on the planet started powering down then turning off.

Outside, the battle between Mother and Anaovlas raged on as Mother used her tentacles to toss Anaovlas across the large courtyard they were fighting in, knocking over rock and destroying the structures surrounding it. Anaovlas roared loudly as he struggled to rear himself back up again. Mother then jumped over top of him before wrapping her tentacles around his neck once more, trying to strangle him. But as she was attacking Anaovlas, she began to notice the Terraformator was powering down through the opening smashed into her chamber. This made Mother extremely angry, causing her to shriek out loudly. No longer was she interested in finishing off Anaovlas, but instead she was now focused on the Doctor and the central control module, as the orb of god energy underneath it stopped emitting light and then powered down, the energy within it going still, the wind storm ceased.

Mother quickly abandoned the battle with Anaovlas and started crawling back towards the central control module and the Doctor. But Anaovlas was far from done with her. Just as she was about to reach the central control module, Anaovlas quickly coiled his long, serpent body around Mother and started squeezing her tightly. Mother began shrieking out in pain, struggling to breath.

The Doctor then looked up and noticed what Anaovlas was doing, then cried out up to him, "Anaovlas! No! Stop! You mustn't...!"

But Anaovlas was not listening to him. He roared loudly as he continued to squeeze Mother tightly with the full strength of his body coiled around her as she cried, "YOU WILL NEVER STOP _THEM_, DOCTOR! _THEY_ WILL ALWAYS SURVIVE! _THEY_ WILL LIVE FOREVER!"

Then, with her last gasping breath, Mother went limp. She was finally dead. The Doctor placed and arm around both Clara and Sutiraena, embracing them both as they looked up at Anaovlas, both stunned but also relieved by what they had just witnessed. Anaovlas roared out loudly once more as he loosened his coil, causing Mother's limp body to rest in his coil. He then brought his mouth over her head and started swallowing her, his jaw bending and stretching so that he could swallow her, eating her.

"Oh my holy Rassilon, he's..." said Sutiraena, her eyes wide from shock and mild fright.

"Don't say it, Sutiraena. We're just going to forget we saw ever that." said the Doctor, looking at her.

"Doctor, you can't un-see what has been seen!" said Clara, glancing to the side at the Doctor.

"I know, Clara. But you'd expect it after such a hard battle. But he's also ensuring that Mother's children can't bring her back. She will no longer be a threat to the universe." said the Doctor once more as Anaovlas reared up and tilted his head back, allowing the rest of his meal to slide down his throat, disappearing with a last sight of the ends of her tentacles. Anaovlas then licked his lips and brought his head forward again. He then let out the loudest burp the group had ever heard, followed by a spurt of fire breath and an embarrassed, 'excuse me!' look on his face. Anaovlas then coiled himself up and rested his head on the ground, shutting his eyes.

"Well, that was a rather anticlimactic ending to all this, don't you think?" said the Doctor, bringing his arms down to his sides and turning around with Clara and Sutiraena, looking on. But this adventure wasn't yet completely over. As the Doctor, Clara and Sutiraena looked at one another and smiled, they suddenly heard a strange loud pinging sound coming from the central control module.

"Doctor, why is it doing that?" asked Clara, as she and Sutiraena looked over towards the central control module, which now had lights flashing on it. The Doctor quickly turned and ran up onto the platform to it, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and aimming it at it. He looked at the results on his sonic screwdriver and spoke, "Oh no. The Terraformator's containment field is broken. Wreathed protocols, I can't stop it from locking down!"

"Meaning?" asked Clara, looking on.

"Meaning that in precisely 25 minutes, this entire pocket universe and everything in it will cease to exist. We need to get everyone and everything out of here who needs saving before it locks down and sends a mighty time wake through that will rip this entire pocket universe apart! You all need to get out of here! Everybody out now! I will stay and try to give us more time! I'll join the rest of you later!"

And with that, most of those still in the room began running for the exits, including Taelaphis, Anarina, Ezarphin, Arana, Harada, The Brigadier and the rest of his soldiers. Auralynn ran out through the hole in the wall to go after Anaovlas, while the Doctor turned back to the central control module, trying to buy more time for everyone to get out. After a moment or two using his sonic on the central control module, he quickly took the crystal ball off the top of the module and began heading towards the hole in the wall to follow Auralynn. But as he turned towards it, he noticed that Clara and Sutiraena were still there, standing behind him.

"Why are you two still doing here?! I thought you ran off with the others!"

"We aren't leaving you here alone, Doctor!" said Clara.

"I can't extend the timer on the central control module, Clara! You need to get out while you still can! I've got to go after my sister and brother! I will join you both later!"

"I will stay here and give you all more time, Doctor!" said Sutiraena, stepping up to him.

"You can't! I've already tried!"

"Doctor! I am not a time stitcher for no reason! I know what I am doing! I've been doing it for over 3,000 years!" said Sutiraena as she stepped up to the central control module.

"You can't stay here, Sutiraena! This place is going to erupt, it will destroy you! I won't let that happen! I can't let that happen to you!"

Sutiraena turned and faced the Doctor as she continued, "Don't argue with your great-aunt, Doctor! Give me my crystal ball! I will join you all later!"

"No, you won't!" said the Doctor as Clara grabbed onto his arm, causing him to look back at her as she spoke, "Doctor, come on! I trust her! Trust her like you trust Auralynn! She will be alright! We need to get out of here now!"

The Doctor then looked back at Sutiraena as she spoke with a smile, holding her hand out in front of her, "You're wasting time, my boy. Go, you'll see me again later."

The Doctor smiled as he handed Sutiraena her crystal ball and spoke, "You really are an incredible time stitcher you know that?"

Sutiraena smiled, "Yes, and I always will be! Now go, the pair of you! Out!"

And with that, the Doctor took Clara's hand and they both turned towards the hole in the wall, going out into the courtyard. After a moment or two, Sutiraena turned to face the central control module and then raised her crystal ball towards it as the crystal ball lit up, with Sutiraena calmly looking on.

Outside, in the courtyard, those who had been sleeping in pods were now awake and running for their lives, running past the Doctor and Clara. One by one, other Krynolians and transformed humans were helping others be free of their pods and were now running towards the dimensional gate.

"Now with Mother gone, her influence is broken, their all running for the dimensional gate!" shouted the Doctor over the noise of yelling and screaming.

"Doctor!" shouted Auralynn nearby, standing next to Anaovlas, waving for them to come over. Auralynn, The Doctor and Clara all quickly got onto Anaovlas's back and started riding him out of the courtyard and away from the danger. Everyone and everything still in the pocket dimension began going through the dimensional gate, including what were left of the Garahidroids, who followed after those fleeing. Then, there was a sudden, bright white light that burst forth from the central control module, spreading outwards quickly in one massive wave, causing the pocket dimension to implode within itself.

**...CONTINUED CHAPTER 10/THE CONCLUSION...  
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	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10  
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From atop the high hill where the UNIT's camp was, The Doctor, Clara, Taelaphis, Anarina, Arana, Harada, The Brigadier and the rest of the performers from the circus watched as the red cloud surrounding London began to break up. Helicopters were dumping barrels full of the altered formula the Doctor had written up earlier from the blue liquid that was in the syringe. Behind the Doctor, in the camp, lines of transformed humans were waiting to either be changed back into humans or were waiting to get on transport ships from Krynolis. They watched as another transport ship from Krynolis landed in the yard next to several others just beyond the camp, waiting to carry the new Krynolians to their new home.

Clara, with her arm crossed, shook her head a moment and spoke, looking on, "Why would any human want to remain an alien?"

"Because they feel like it, Clara. And why would you blame them?" said the Doctor, "Sometimes, the change is a good thing for some. It will give them a chance to start over on a new world. It alters your perception of the world when you become something you weren't born as. Besides, with these new Krynolians, they are no longer remotely human so they will be able to help rebuild the original Krynolian population. The Time War was not a very pleasant affair, Clara."

"As you keep telling me, Doctor." said Clara, scoffing quietly and bringing her arms down to her side as the Doctor stood next to her, using his sonic on a TARDIS component he nicked off of his great-aunt's steampunk TARDIS.

"What is that then you're sonicing, Doctor?" asked Clara, looking at what the Doctor was holding in his hands.

"It's much newer TARDIS dimensional stabilizer hub, Clara," said the Doctor, suddenly aware that Auralynn and Ezarphin were walking up behind him before hiding the object in his pocket, "I was thinking I could use it on my TARDIS since my great-aunt had a spare one and mine is going out."

"You mean you want a whole new TARDIS? You're TARDIS is ancient, brother. You need a new one." said Auralynn, and she and Ezarphin were holding the reigns of several strange alien creatures standing around them.

"Auralynn. We're you successful in gathering up all the creatures you and helped free from the prison cells?" said The Doctor quickly turned around as his face was met by the face of one of the creatures, which looked like something crossed between a cow and an elephant, quickly using its trunk-like nose to feel and sniff all over his face while it made a low, cow-like mooing sound, much to the delight of Clara nearby and spoke, "I think it likes you, Doctor."

The Doctor gave Clara a mildly embarrassed smirk as he gently batted the trunk away from his face as Auralynn scoffed and spoke, "Now how naive do you think I am, brother?"

"What? What did I do?"

Auralynn quickly dove her hand into the Doctor's pocket, pulling out the dimensional stabilizer hub, held it up and continued, "Stealing TARDIS parts from our great-auntie now, Doctor?"

"You know I am not about to waste an opportunity to upgrade parts of my TARDIS, Auralynn. Clearly you know me well enough by now."

"Oh, you bet I do." said Auralynn with a smile as she handed the item back to the Doctor as she glanced over at Clara for a moment then back at him, "More then your friend Clara will ever know that I am sure of. But you should have asked great-auntie first instead of grabbing for yourself without her knowledge."

"Incoming!" cried Ezarphin looking upwards to the sky, causing some of the transformed humans and onlookers to look up above them and panic slightly. Flying down from above and landing on one of the large intact UNIT tanks was Daenaphin, the domesticated Sky Banshee who was fighting with The Krynolian Mantis-Dragon earlier.

Anarina quickly ran up to the Daenaphin and cried, "Daenaphin! You survived! You're alive! I was so worried about you!" - Anarina quickly wrapped her arms around Daenaphin's neck and gave it a hug. Daenaphin began licking her face as she began to laugh. Daenaphin then rose his head to look back behind him and upwards as a large, black shadow loomed above him and flew down to greet him. It was the Mantis-Dragon he had fought with earlier, which landed on the ground with a mighty thud right next to Daenaphin, causing everyone nearby to jump or fall over. It spread open its wings and let out a loud shriek as Daenaphin looked back at Anarina, tilting his head to the side in a telling way as Taelaphis spoke up, "Well, well. It seems that The Mantis-Dragon and Daenaphin are friends now. The Mantis-Dragon must have been under Mother's spell as well, poor Mantis-Dragon. He looks like he is domesticated to, otherwise he wouldn't have followed Daenaphin back here. He looks rather scratched up. I'm going to take him over to the transport ship that will be carrying the animals that were imprisoned back to Krynolis and see if they can clean him up a little. I guess it helps to fight one another now and again to encourage peace between both parties."

"I'd never encourage fighting." said the Doctor, looking on intensely.

"So, what are you lot going to do now?" asked Clara, looking up at everyone around her.

"We're moving on to the next planet!" said Harada, "The circus is now free to continue its long existence. Maybe we'll go to planet Floskanos in the Floskaeian Ice Galaxy. I heard they've been wanting a bit of peaceful entertainment. "

The Doctor then walked up closer to the group and spoke while Taelaphis grabbed a harness and placed it on the head of the Mantis-Dragon, which had folded back its wings and was making a soft shrilling sound while it was being pulled over towards one of the Krynolian transport ships by Taelaphis, vanishing for a moment, "Yes, well, but before you do I'd like for you all to let go of your animals for a moment and come into the main tent."

"Whatever for, Doctor?" asked Anarina, petting Daenaphin's head, who had his wings folded back and was trying to look cute as he made a low purring sound.

"Because you're going to need a drink or two after what I am about to tell you."

Inside the main tent at the UNIT camp, the Doctor began to explain a few things to the group, in which afterwards Anarina then spoke, "You mean we're not a galactically-renowed circus, Doctor? But I have memories and have heard stories about this circus going all the way back to over 100 years ago!"

"Implanted memories, false tales of splendor. You were all made to believe that you were a part of a galactic-renowned alien circus when your perceptions were altered by Mother. _Your circus_, if it ever was one, has only been around for as long as you've been on Earth. You felt safe, happy even at times, because Mother altered your perceptions to make you believe it so. That's how she managed to lure in all those humans into the circus tent so that she could take them bellow to transform them into Krynolians and then place them into sleeping pods until it was time for them to be used. She altered their perceptions by use of special perception-altering gas suspended in the air, making them believe that they were in a safe place.

I smelled it when I first entered the main tent so I knew that something was wrong from that moment on. Didn't effect me however since Gallifreyans have the ability to see through certain types of altered perceptions and illusions. Humans wouldn't just willingly go to a circus full of aliens and alien creatures unless they were given the brainwash treatment, ceasing their fears and altering what they see, hear and remember. Humans are never _that_ calm around aliens. She did it to all the performers as well to ensure that they would co-operate. Mother was tying to create a secondary servant class that was superior to humans and yet still slaves to her and her people. Inferior or primitive races would have been of no use to Mother and her people so she used the Terraformator to not only change the planet and make it the base of her new empire for the Krynolani, she also used it to upgrade the humans to make them stronger, faster and more superior then humans. "

"What, does that mean that me and Anarina aren't actually brother and sister?" asked Ezarphin with a concerned look on his face.

"Actually, that part wasn't an illusion. No, you really are brother and sister, as Taelaphis is really Anarina's mate," said the Doctor, scratching at the back of is head and cringing slightly as Ezarphin and Anarina smiled at one another, "Still, I wish that the relationship between Arana and Anaovlas was an illusion though."

"Oye! That is enough out of you! I hope you realize that I love Anaovlas very much and if he hadn't accidentally regenerated into a 300-foot long, fire-breathing, Krynolian Dragon-Snake, I would have children with him!" said Arana, narrowing her eyes at the Doctor.

"Well, maybe it is a good thing that he is a snake after all." said the Doctor as Arana narrowed her eyes at him once more.

Suddenly, the Doctor heard the familiar sound of a TARDIS materializing. Auralynn then looked towards the ceiling and cried out excitedly, "I recognize the sound of that TARDIS!"

Auralynn then ran out the main tent and followed its sound as the familiar sight of the steampunk TARDIS appeared near the edge of the UNIT camp. Auralynn quickly ran up. As the door opened, she cried, "Great-Auntie!" but was met by not only a completely different face, but a completely different sex.

"Hello, is this where we are supposed to land?" said the elegant, posh voice of the tall, handsome gentleman who stepped out, with loose, shoulder length, bedraggled black hair, fair skin, dark emerald green eyes and wearing Victorian Steampunk style gentleman's attire of black, emerald green and brown. But instead of wearing a top hat, the man was wearing what looked like a black fisherman's bucket hat and a black, hooded wool long coat which went all the way down to the back of his ankles. The Gallifreyan Suntailer, the small cream-tan colored creature the Doctor saw in a small prison cell earlier, then jumped onto his left shoulder out of nowhere, holding and eating what looked like a strange-colored plum.

"Auralynn, my great-niece are you?" said the man, smiling and pointing at Auralynn a moment before bringing his hand back to grab the creature off his shoulder then cradling it in his arms as it kept eating on its fruit, "I'm sorry, my dear, but I am still trying to get back my bearings after dying in that time wake. Well, it wasn't the wake itself that killed my last incarnation, it was the after effects. It was time anyway, I was starting to feel my age in that regeneration. But I was quite lovely indeed."

The Doctor then appeared with Clara, running into view to look upon the strange man standing in front of Auralynn. A mild look of sadness soon fell upon the Doctor's face as he looked over the stranger and spoke as he walked up to him, "Great-Auntie, Sutiraena, no."

"Yes, my boy, my great-nephew the Doctor is it? And it's Sutiraenan now. Besides, it was nearing the time to regenerate from that incarnation anyway. I just got to my next one sooner. No worries though, I'm not running out of regenerations anytime soon, this is only my third regeneration...or is it my forth? Goodness, I still can't quite remember right now."

"_She_ survived then to I see," said the Doctor with a smile, walking up closer to pet the Gallifreyan Suntailer under the chin as the man, Sutiraenan, continued, "I managed to save him just before I regenerated. She was witness to my regeneration in the end but at least he was still there after it was all over. Regenerating isn't all moonbeams and rainbows that I assure you."

"I know how you feel," said the Doctor, "But it does come in handy when you've reached the end but can manage to bounce right back up again and live on. I'm so glad you weren't destroyed. I'd hate to think of one of the only members of my family who actually worried about me as a child being vaporized in a time wake."

"Quite so, my boy. But I knew that I was going to survive. I am afterall, a time stitcher, it comes with the territory." said Sutiraenan, pulling out his crystal ball and playing with it in one of his hands while the creature he was holding went back to sit on his shoulder, looking on, "But I wasn't expecting to regenerate into a male, and I probably wouldn't have if I had better control over my regenerative energies at the time. But that's regeneration for you. It's always such a dodgy process and you only have a limited amount of control over who and what you regenerate into. But it will work, my new body. It will be strange though, being a male time stitcher. Time Ladies are normally the ones who become time stitchers."

"Well, you are a unique Gallifreyan in the universe, Sutiraenan," said the Doctor as some of the transformed humans nearby began to listen in, "Everyone becomes unique in the end which is a good thing. And after saving the Earth and everyone on it, I'd think you'd deserve to be unique."

Sutiraenan smiled as he continued, "Oh, one more thing. Before I forget, look at what I have here." - Sutiraenan placed a hand in his pocket and pulled out a small and brightly metallic square which had buttons and lights on it, holding it up, "You can guess what _this_ is."

"That is the Terraformator," said the Doctor, looking at it, "You've managed to pull it into stasis mode."

"Indeed and it will remain in stasis mode until the organic nano-bots inside it fix it. That's the thing about some Gallifreyan technology, it never stays broken for long. I managed to gather up all the other orbs that were a part of it on the planet before I came back here. Everything is back where it is supposed to be, prior to it being stolen from the Time Vaults. I will look after it from now on, just like I'm going to look after this cute little Gallifreyan Suntailer from now on."

"Look after them both and guard them well, Sutiraenan. And remember not to make the same mistake again." said the Doctor as Sutiraenan replied, "I won't, my boy. I can assure you of that."

One of the transformed humans then walked towards the Doctor and Sutiraenan, pointing at Sutiraenan, "_He_ saved us?" asked the transformed human, who then spoke up to the rest of the humans who had been transformed into Krynolians nearby, "Hey everyone! _This man_ near the strange box saved our lives! He gave us time to escape from the pocket dimension before it imploded!"

A barrage of thankful voices came towards Sutiraenan as some of the transformed humans began walking up to him, wanting to thank him. But Sutiraenan wasn't having any of that as he placed the Terraformator back in his pocket while some of the transformed human women came up and began kissing him on the cheek and holding onto him, "No, please. No, it's fine. I just did what I was supposed to do. No, I'm good, I'm fine."

Clara looked on, laughing softly at all the attention Sutiraenan was getting as the Doctor smiled. The Doctor then looked behind him at Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who was nearby talking to Daniel, both of which were still in their transformed Krynolian forms. The Doctor then turned walked up to him they noticed him approaching them as he spoke, with Clara following behind him, "You aren't changing back into a human then?"

"No," said the Brigadier as he looked towards Daniel and smiled, then looked back at the Doctor, "I think I will stay in this form for a while. Afterall, it makes it easier for me and Daniel to...well, I don't think I need to go into details about that."

"Not that I haven't noticed," said the Doctor, looking on coolly, "But I think you did well out there in the field, you and your men. You've done your mother proud and I think you've done your grandfather proud as well..."

Clara quickly slid her arm around the Doctor's arm as she spoke, "_Basically_, the Doctor is apologizing for being rude and calling you a pudding-brain earlier. And if he's not, I'm apologizing for him."

The Doctor looked at Clara and smirked at her as the Brigadier continued, "Thank-you and you're very welcome."

"Doctor, can we go now?" asked Clara, looking up at the Doctor, "Perhaps maybe you can send me home so I can check up on my gran and my other folks?"

"We will. But I promised that I was going to take you some place peaceful and quiet. And I know just the place."

"I bet you do."

"Doctor, I know you don't like it but..." - the Brigadier quickly saluted the Doctor with four fingers since the Brigadier now had four arms instead of two. The Doctor cringed a little as the Brigadier continued, "...you deserve a salute."

"No, just no...I don't deserve a salute. I don't like it when I am saluted..."

"Yep, it's time for us to go, Brigadier, good luck with you and Daniel. Come along, Doctor." said Clara as she began pulling the Doctor away back towards the Doctor's TARDIS, which was parked on a low hill nearby, as the Doctor kept bantering on, keeping his eyes on the Brigadier as they were leaving, "...You should have given that salute to Sutiraenan, he's the one that saved all of you. I only helped...I don't deserve a salute. I never deserve them!"

The Brigadier smiled as he laughed softly as he and the others from the main tent watched the Doctor and Clara vanish into the TARDIS and then dematerialized, once again vanishing into the space/time vortex beyond.

**EPILOGUE**:

Clara stood at the top of a hill, looking into space and smiling as she overlooked a vast grassy field, devoid of everything but tall, green grass with a gentle breeze blowing through her hair, above her, she could see a star-filled sky, full of thousands of stars and a large blue nebula hanging low in the sky which filled half the skyline with a narrow ribbon of red light at the horizon which wrapped around and set underneath a black-blue sky which had ever more stars fading and bleeding into it. It was sunset and was quickly fading into twilight as a few bright comets streaked across the sky from where Clara stood, watching and listening. The Doctor then walked up next to her and spoke, "Well, what do you think of The Eye Of Orion?"

"It's...it's just so..."

"Yes, it is. This is the most peaceful place in the universe, like Earth after a rainstorm. You should wait till the moonset, it's a beautiful moonset, it's like the ideal tonic for the weary time traveller."

"I believe you."

"You know, this planet is not only the most peaceful planet I know of, it's also one of the wetest, getting an average of 1,735 inches per...year..."

"Yeah, maybe a story for another time, Doctor...flowers..." said Clara as The Doctor watched Clara wandering down into the grassy field as if drawn down to it, looking at some of the native wildflowers growing nearby. The Doctor just smirked and shook his as he followed Clara down into the grassy field at the bottom of the hill, vanishing among the tall grasses.

Elsewhere, back on Earth, a Krynolian, a female, wandered away from the UNIT camp and began walking into the forest. She wandered for a few minutes until she reached an open field, where near the center of it stood what appeared to be some type of spaceship. She soon entered the craft as a door opened for her. Walking down a narrow corridor jumping between broken bands of light and shadow, she kept walking, holding something under a red silk cloth in her hands. She soon entered a dimly lit room, at the center of which their appeared to be some type of TARDIS console, with a platform surrounding it, brightly lit with green light.

The Krynolian female then spoke, "I have what you asked for, my lord. I stole it from the pocket of the Time Lord that was said to be guarding it."

"Very good, Narcuri," said a low, menacing male voice, "You have been a most useful and faithful Krynolian spy indeed. You will continue to be quite useful in the future. Sit it over there on the table and return to your duties."

"Yes, my lord." said Narcuri as she walked over to a table nearby and placed the object she was holding on it, right next to the old record player that Clara had seen earlier, which was once again playing the song 'Look At Me' by John Lennon. Narcuri then spoke, "Do you like that song, my Lord?"

"I do, but I grow tired of it. I will change the song soon. Now, off you go so that I may look upon this treasure you have brought me."

"Yes, my Lord. I shall leave you now..." as Narcuri turned and began to walk out, she looked back a moment and spoke, "Do you really think _he_ has a chance at stopping _them_, my Lord? Just like _he_ and the others did with the Krynolani?"

"No," said the male voice as what looked like a human arm broke through the darkness next to the table and pulled off the red silk cloth that was over the object that it was covering, revealing the Terraformator cube. The male voice that the arm belonged to then picked up the cube, fondling it gently as he continued, "No. He will never stop _them_ from returning, nor will he ever stop _them_ from surviving. _They_ always survive you know..._they've_ never stopped surviving...as they will always do so till the end of time...and beyond..."

And with that, another hand clasped over the top of the Terraformator cube as the song on the old record player played the last line and music notes of the song and then stopped.

**...THE END...**


End file.
